Pyongyang Department Store No. 1

The store offers a variety of items including electronics, clothing, furniture, foodstuffs,{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreans-experience-the-marvels-of-a-supermarket-firsthand-2012-2|title=North Koreans Experience The Marvels Of A Supermarket Firsthand|author=Pak Won Il|publisher=Associated Press|date=Feb 25, 2012|access-date=May 31, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502114618/http://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreans-experience-the-marvels-of-a-supermarket-firsthand-2012-2|archive-date=May 2, 2014|url-status=live}} kitchenware, and toys. {{As of|2013}}, approximately 70 percent of the items in the store were produced domestically.{{cite web|url=http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2013/02/22/north-korean-products-in-department-stores-on-the-rise|title=North Korean products in department stores on the rise|author=Curtis Melvin|publisher=North Korean Economy Watch|date=Feb 22, 2013|access-date=July 6, 2013}} The store is also one of several official tourist stops in the city.{{cite web|url=http://www.koryogroup.com/tours/kumgangsan.html|title=Kumgangsan Tour|publisher=Koryo Tour Group|access-date=July 6, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411055556/http://www.koryogroup.com/tours/kumgangsan.html|archive-date=April 11, 2013|url-status=dead}} Department Store No. 1 accepts only local currency.{{Cite web |last=Lankov |first=Andrei |date=2014-05-28 |title=Money matters: The three-tiered system of 1980s North Korean currency {{!}} NK News |url=https://www.nknews.org/2014/05/money-matters-the-three-tiered-system-of-1980s-north-korean-currency/ |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=NK News|language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=York |first=Rob |date=2014-09-01 |title=Black market cash: The real value of N. Korean won {{!}} NK News |url=https://www.nknews.org/2014/09/black-market-cash-the-real-value-of-n-korean-won/ |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=NK News|language=en-US}} 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/11/02/Report-North-Korea-department-store-gets-20000-visits-a-day-offers-delivery/9321478112084/ | title=Report: North Korea department store gets 20,000 visits a day, offers delivery }}

Swedish journalist {{interlanguage link|Caroline Salzinger|sv|Caroline Salzinger}} described her visit to the department store as a tourist in the mid-2000s. Upon arrival, the store was closed.{{sfn|Salzinger|2008|p=47}} 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.{{sfn|Salzinger|2008|p=48}} 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,{{sfn|Salzinger|2008|p=49}} 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."{{sfn|Salzinger|2008|p=50}} According to Salzinger, a Western diplomat monitored the department store for one hour and saw no one come out with purchased items.{{sfn|Salzinger|2008|p=49}}

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."{{cite book |last1=A. M. Daniels |title=The wilder shores of Marx: journeys in a vanishing world |date=1991 |publisher=Hutchinson |isbn=009174153X |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nswPAQAAMAAJ&q=listlessly |access-date=27 April 2020 |language=en |chapter=North Korea |quote=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.|author1-link=A. M. Daniels }}

{{Commons category|Pyongyang Department Store}}

{{Portal|North Korea}}

• Pothonggang Department Store

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Salzinger|first=Caroline|translator-last=Lempinen|translator-first=Ulla|title=Terveisiä pahan akselilta: Arkea ja politiikkaa maailman suljetuimmissa valtioissa|trans-title=Hälsningar från ondskans axelmakter: Vardag och vansinne i världens mest stängda länder|year=2008|publisher=Atena|location=Jyväskylä|language=fi|isbn=978-951-796-521-7}}

Category:Buildings and structures in Pyongyang

Category:Economy of Pyongyang

Category:Department stores of North Korea

Category:Hard currency shops in socialist countries