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Bread Line
THE SUPERMARKET GOES UNDERGROUND IN SOUTH KOREA
Most people don’t linger on subway platforms, especially in a
place as frenetic as Seoul. But at the city’s Seonreung station this
morning, commuter A.J. Kim is letting more than one train come
and go. After all, she’s too busy grocery shopping.
This past August, in a bid to bring new customers to its online
store, grocery chain HomePlus began pasting up life-size photos
of supermarket shelves at this subway station in downtown Seoul.
What better place to display its wares, the company figured, than
in a transit system that sees 5.6 million people every day?
The virtual supermarket, featuring 500-some popular items
ranging from spaghetti to kimchi, is made of attractively lit
billboards pasted around the station.WhenKimpoints her smart-
phone at an image of a milk carton, the price appears onscreen,
accompanied by a
ding
. With a touch of her manicured finger,
she adds the half-liter to her order, and—just like that—her task
is completed. “After work, I don’t have the energy for shopping
and
cooking,” Kim says. “So I’m doing one of them now.” Her
purchases will be delivered to her home this evening, she says
as she hops on the next train.
Since the billboards debuted, HomePlus has seen a 130 percent
jump in web sales and has become the No. 1 online grocery seller
in South Korea. Still, it’s clear this new approach to shopping is
in its infancy: The virtual shelves seem to be ignored by most
travelers, who rush past them on the way to work.
Most, but not all. A baseball glove cleverly placed on a bottom
shelf doesn’t escape the notice of a little boy. He leads hismother
by the hand to the picture and beginswhining. Just as shewould in
any store, she shakes her head andpulls himaway.
—CHANEYKWAK
SOLINGEN, GERMANY
A CUT ABOVE
German knife-makers keep their edge
In a Tudor-style co age on the banks
of Germany’sWupper River, Engelbert
Schmitz is dressed like amarione e,
wearing hand-carved wooden shoes and
wooden shin guards, and brandishing a
knife in a room full of rickety pulleys and
gears. He places the blade between his
knees and leans toward a rapidly spinning
grindstone. “Many people died doing this,”
he says. “Making knives in this way was
not a safe profession.”
No kidding. Here at Balkhauser Ko en,
a knife-makingmuseumat the edge of the
town of Solingen, historians like Schmitz
demonstrate the lengths to which cra s-
men in the 1300s went to create the best
knives, swords and daggers in Europe.
Solingen is still famed for knife-
making, although its production methods
have go en much safer. Over the past
300 years, dozens of knife manufacturers
have set up shop here, including such
eminent firms as Wüsthof, Böker and
Zwilling J.A. Henckels, earning Solingen
the nickname “City of Blades.” Most of the
grinding and assembly is now completed
by machine, but there are still some tasks
that only knife-makers perform.
“While sharpening, there’s no way to
check that the blade is at the correct angle,
so the feel for the knife has to be just
right,” says KristianMuhlert, head of qual-
itymanagement at Zwilling J.A. Henckels.
“Not many people learn to do it anymore.”
But knife sharpener Filippo Frenna
seems to be just the guy: Laughing, he
shaves a chunk of hair fromhis arm to
show the bite of a blade he’s completed. He
hands the knife toMuhlert, who carries it
to a laser reflector to check that the edge’s
angles are exactly 15 degrees on each side.
Frenna looks unconcerned. “It’s perfect,”
Muhlert says.
—JACQUELINE DETWILER
SEOUL
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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JANUARY 2012
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