The early twentieth century department stores in Seoul were
probably not much different from department stores of the
present day—a phantasmagoria, a term Walter Benjamin used to
describe the Parisian arcades during the late 19th century. Akin
to the French arcades, everything required looking, from the
department store's grandiose architecture and glass pane display
cases to new commodities, technologies, and people engaged in
new forms of labor. The department store became one of the focal
points of urban life whether one was there to shop, to stroll
through the maze-like halls, to experience riding the elevator,
or to promenade down the grand stairway. In this way, the
department store represented the quintessential space for
commodity consumption where not only could material goods be
consumed but every aspect of its internal and external structure
also accounted for the commodification process. Many critical
writings, including literary works, on the department store
situate the department store as the u