Now Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 sells thousands of kinds of goods, attracting lots of customers every day.

According to Ri Song Suk, a staffer at the commercial department of the department store, most of the goods on sale there are domestic products.

The first counter in the department store is always packed with satisfied women customers who have come to buy cosmetics, sanitary goods, Cosmos hairpins and others.

Cosmos hairpins have already become a favourite article of local women and Pomhyanggi- and Unhasu-brand cosmetics maintain the high purchasing power, favoured by women customers.

The foodstuff section occupies the largest area in the department store, attracting the largest number of customers as well.

Ri said that foodstuffs filling the counters of the department are all products of local factories and enterprises.

“I like foodstuffs, sweets and cakes made at our foodstuff factories as they suit our tastes and are safe,” said So Myong Sun living in Ryugyong-dong No. 2 of Pothonggang District, Pyongyang. “As they are proper in sugar content and do not have strong flavour compared to imported ones, my children like them very much.”

The shoes department takes the next largest area to the foodstuff section.

On sale there are footwear from many shoes production units including such leading shoes producers as the Ryuwon Footwear Factory, Wonsan and Pyongyang leather shoes factories and Sinuiju Footwear Factory, said Ri.

“Shoes have been diversified in kind and shape,” said Ri Kyong Hui, a saleswoman who has worked in the shoes department for several years.

The department with satchels and bags in various styles and shapes produced by the Pyongyang Bag Factory and the hosiery counter with Choljjuk-brand socks and stockings attract the interest of visitors.

More alluring is the section of silk products most often visited by parents who want to buy silk blankets and quilts produced at the Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Silk Mill and Pakchon Silk Mill for their children at marriageable age.

A T-shirt with the blue and red national flag emblazoned on it is very popular these days at the ready-made clothes section.

On display at the department of the August 3 consumer goods on the fourth floor are various goods produced by applying recycling technologies.

“The development of science and technology and the widely encouraged recycling efforts have resulted in a marked increase in the kinds of August 3 consumer goods and their volume of sale for their quality, convenience and low prices,” said Ri Song Suk.