The Choson Sinbo announced the opening of the Hwanggumbol Shop (황금벌상점) in Pyongyang last December. According to the pro-DPRK outlet, it is open from 6am to midnight.
Choson Exchange chimed in with additional information:
[Hwanggumbol Trading Corporation] managers have taken part in multiple CE workshops and have taken part in mind-mapping and team-building exercises, as well as lean startup methodology and customer needs strategies. It is fitting that the article speaks of “responding to people’s demands”, though it is then said that “the idea of loving people”, rather than “responding to their demands” is the concept they use. Its gratifying to see that some of the concepts we’ve covered in workshops are packed up in PR-conscious statements like these.
On a Women in Business workshop in Singapore last year, the businesswomen were obsessed with how retail worked elsewhere – Geoffrey recounts here how it took ages to drag them through a mall, not because they were shopping, but because they were taking notes on everything. They were extremely curious about how customers could be attracted, engaged and kept.
Back in Pyongyang, the manager of Hwanggumbol, Mr. Ryang Sung Jin, mentions that they are “prioritizing benefits for the people and their business’ goal is people’s convenience”. Clearly, these guys have found their angle, differentiating themselves quite dramatically from the competition.
NK News did a follow-up as well that was re-posted to The Guardian. The article translated much of the Choson Sinbo material that is behind a registration-wall:
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.”
