Pyongyang Department Store No. 1

The Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 (Korean: 평양제1백화점) is a major retail store in Pyongyang, North Korea. On Sungri Street near Kim Il-sung Square in downtown Pyongyang,[3] it is one of the largest retail stores in the country and is often the site of large commodity exhibitions.[4]

Pyongyang Department Store No. 1
Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 is located in Pyongyang
Pyongyang Department Store No. 1
Location in Pyongyang
General information
TypeShopping center
AddressSungri Street
Coordinates39°1′20.14″N 125°45′11.42″E
Completedc. late 1980s
Renovatedc. late 2000s - early 2010s[1]
OwnerPyongyang City People's Committee of the WPK
Design and construction
Architect(s)Yun Ko-gwang[2]
Other information
Public transit access   Chǒllima: Sŭngni Trolleybus: Sadong-No.1 Department Store
Paradise Department Store - taken from the first floor down towards the ground floor

The store, along with two others, are reportedly run jointly with Chinese business partners.[5]

Shopping

The store offers a variety of items including electronics, clothing, furniture, foodstuffs,[6] kitchenware, and toys.[3] As of 2013, approximately 70 percent of the items in the store were produced domestically.[7] The store is also one of several official tourist stops in the city.[8] Department Store No. 1 accepts only local currency.[9] According to the pro-North-Korean newspaper Choson Sinbo, it is a popular shopping destination for local residents and in 2016 an average of 20,000 shoppers visited the store daily.[10]

Swedish journalist Caroline Salzinger described her visit to the department store as a tourist in the mid-2000s. Upon arrival, the store was closed.[11] One of the tour guides accompanying her tried to distract her, while the other one rushed in to get the doors opened. When opened, the guide had to scramble passers-by to occupy the store as "shoppers". The moment they stepped in, the escalator was started.[12] The shoppers appeared clueless as to how to act in a department store. When after great pains Salzinger managed to purchase the goods she wanted,[13] the cashier was confused and would not hand her a plastic bag for her items: "We look at each other in the eyes. She knows that something is wrong, and that not everything is like it should, but she does not know what it is."[14] According to Salzinger, a Western diplomat monitored the department store for one hour and saw no one come out with purchased items.[13]

Theodore Dalrymple visited in 1989. He described the Potemkin nature of the place: "I also followed a few people around at random, as discreetly as I could. Some were occupied in ceaselessly going up and down the escalators; others wandered from counter to counter, spending a few minutes at each before moving on. They did not inspect the merchandise; they moved as listlessly as illiterates might, condemned to spend the day among the shelves of a library. I did not know whether to laugh or explode with anger or weep. But I knew I was seeing one of the most extraordinary sights of the twentieth century."[15]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pyongyang Department Store.

References
  1. Koryo Tours (2 April 2020). "Pyongyang Department Store No.1". Koryo Tours. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  2. Choe Kwang (April 2014). "50-Year Devotion to Education". Democratic People's Republic of Korea. No. 700. p. 29. ISSN 1727-9208.
  3. Hokkanen, Jouni (2013). "Pohjois-Korea: Matkailijan opas" [North Korea: Traveler's Guide]. Pohjois-Korea: Siperiasta itään [North Korea: East of Siberia] (in Finnish). Helsinki: Johnny Kniga. p. [10]. ISBN 978-951-0-39946-0.
  4. "Commodity Exhibition Held at Pyongyang Department Store No. 1". Korean Central News Agency. December 6, 2012. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  5. Jae Cheol Kim (Nov 1, 2006). "The Political Economy of Chinese Investment in North Korea". North Korean Economy Watch. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  6. Pak Won Il (Feb 25, 2012). "North Koreans Experience The Marvels Of A Supermarket Firsthand". Business Insider. Archived from the original on April 10, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  7. Curtis Melvin (Feb 22, 2013). "North Korean products in department stores on the rise". North Korean Economy Watch. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  8. "Kumgangsan Tour". Koryo Tour Group. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  9. e.g. Andrei Lankov, Money matters: the three-tiered system of the 1980s North Korean currency, NKNews 28 May 2014;http://www.nknews.org/2014/05/money-matters-the-three-tiered-system-of-1980s-north-korean-currency/ and Rob York, Black market cash, The real value of N. Korean Won, in: NKNews, 1 September 2014; http://www.nknews.org/2014/09/black-market-cash-the-real-value-of-n-korean-won/
  10. "Report: North Korea department store gets 20,000 visits a day, offers delivery".
  11. Salzinger 2008, p. 47.
  12. Salzinger 2008, p. 48.
  13. Salzinger 2008, p. 49.
  14. Salzinger 2008, p. 50.
  15. A. M. Daniels (1991). "North Korea". The wilder shores of Marx: journeys in a vanishing world. Hutchinson. p. 54. ISBN 009174153X. Retrieved 27 April 2020. I also followed a few people around at random, as discreetly as I could. Some were occupied in ceaselessly going up and down the escalators; others wandered from counter to counter, spending a few minutes at each before moving on. They did not inspect the merchandise; they moved as listlessly as illiterates might, condemned to spend the day among the shelves of a library. I did not know whether to laugh or explode with anger or weep. But I knew I was seeing one of the most extraordinary sights of the twentieth century.

Works cited
  • Salzinger, Caroline (2008). Terveisiä pahan akselilta: Arkea ja politiikkaa maailman suljetuimmissa valtioissa [Hälsningar från ondskans axelmakter: Vardag och vansinne i världens mest stängda länder] (in Finnish). Translated by Lempinen, Ulla. Jyväskylä: Atena. ISBN 978-951-796-521-7.
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