Shinsegae

Shinsegae Inc.
Native name
주식회사 신세계
Company typePublic
KRX: 004170
IndustryRetail
PredecessorMitsukoshi Keijō (Gyeongseong) Store
Founded9 December 1955 (1955-12-09)
FounderOriginal store acquired by Lee Byung-chul
Headquarters63 Sogong-ro, Jung District, Seoul, South Korea
Area served
South Korea
Key people
Lee Myung-hee (Chairwoman)
Chung Yong-jin (Vice Chairman)
Cha Jeong-ho (CEO)
OwnerEstate of Lee Myung-hee (28.56%)
National Pension Service (12.16%)
ParentSamsung (1955–1997)
Independent (1997–present)
SubsidiariesE-mart
Websiteen.shinsegae.cn

Shinsegae (Korean신세계; Hanja新世界; lit. new world, KRX: 004170) is a South Korean department store franchise, along with several other businesses, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The firm is an affiliate of Shinsegae Group, South Korea's leading retail chaebol, and one of the big three department store firms in Korea, along with Lotte and Hyundai Department Store. Its flagship store in Centum City, Busan, was the world's largest department store at 3,163,000 square feet (293,900 m2), surpassing Macy's flagship Herald Square in New York City in 2009.[1][2]

Shinsegae was the first credit card company in South Korea. They issued their own charge card from 1967 to 2000. In 2000, Shinsegae sold their credit card division to KorAm Bank, which was later acquired by Citibank Korea.

Shinsegae was originally part of the Samsung Group, from which it separated in the 1990s along with CJ Group (Food/Chemicals/Entertainment), Saehan Group (Electronic Media/Apparel/Textiles), and the Hansol Group (Paper/Telecom). Chairwoman Lee Myung-hee is the fifth daughter of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul and the aunt of Lee Jae-yong, the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics.

The group owns the brands Shinsegae and E-Mart, and is in direct competition with Lotte Shopping and Hyundai Department Store Group. Currently, it is the largest retailer in South Korea.[3]

  1. ^ "Guinness World Records: Department Store".
  2. ^ Farfan, Barbara (8 December 2018). "What Is the World's Largest Retail Store?". Small Business. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  3. ^ "E-Land in talk to sell stores to Tesco South Korea unit". Reuters. 2008-05-14.