North Korea embraces late night shopping

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/20/-sp-north-korea-embraces-late-night-shopping

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Branches of a new department store open until midnight and selling goods at lower prices have opened in Pyongyang, according to a pro-North Korea newspaper.

The chain shop, named Hwanggumbol Store (hwanggeumbeol sangjeom), first opened in Pyongyang on 20 December, Choson Sinbo, which is run by a pro-North federation of Korean residents in Japan, reported on Monday.

The stores open as early as 6am, close at midnight and sell everything from groceries and daily necessities to consumer electronics. Employees have been gathering customers’ reactions, which the report said have been quite positive.

Choson Exchange, an organisation working inside North Korea to educate young professionals in business, economic policy and law, previously trained employees from the store’s operator, Hwanggumbol Trading Corporation, on modern business management including customer relations and personnel management.

“They were, as I recall, very attentive and active participants,” Choson Exchange director Andray Abrahamian told NK News. The organisation’s blog describes the chain store “with several departments, from food, to clothing to daily use items, with several locations around the capital” as a “new” concept for North Korea.

Workers in Pyongyang working in shifts at factories need stores to open earlier and close later than usual, the Choson Sinbo report noted. While a store in the centre of the capital is most crowded from 5.30pm to 8.30pm, there are customers who buy things early in the morning and even after 10pm, it added.

The stores are located in residential streets to let the people buy groceries at their convenience. To guarantee low prices, Hwanggumbol Trading Corporation practices bulk purchasing from various producers around the country and consistently accelerates circulation of purchases and sales, it said. According to the article, some of its imported goods also enjoy tariff benefits.

However, the store’s management has kept its distance from capitalist principles, describing its operation as the “realisation of the Party’s love for the people,” drawing a line between its own interests and those of capitalist corporations.

“To put people’s interest above anything and to serve the people’s convenience are the aims of our service,” Ryang Sung-jin, the president of Hwanggumbol Trading Corporation, was quoted as saying.

Hwanggumbol Store currently runs three stores in Pyongyang and plans to expand its number of stores to 20 by spring 2015. The stores are also expanding their range of services and will be providing door-to-door delivery and sales, as well as ticketing reservations for trains and planes, the report said.

“We also know of people trying to start a chain of stores as well as dry-cleaning and delivery services in Pyongyang,” Abrahamian said. “There is definitely a generation of business people thinking creatively, asking ‘why not?’ when it comes to new ways of doing things.”