This February, South Korean beauty and lifestyle retailer CJ Olive Young made headlines when it announced plans to open physical stores in the US. This week, Olive Young confirmed that it will open its first shop in Pasadena, California, in May, followed by another location in Los Angeles’s Century City Mall later that month. Although the brand has a thriving global e-commerce presence, with the platform witnessing 70 per cent sales growth in the first half of 2025 alone, many US shoppers have
s have complained about logistical issues, such as missing parcels or unexpected customs charges.
By introducing its physical stores to the US retail scene, American consumers can finally get their hands on many of the South Korean products they have been craving, sans a flight to South Korea or the annoying logistical issues of online orders.
Timing-wise, Olive Young is also entering the US physical retail scene at the right time, as the K-beauty wave, which first started in the early 2010s, is experiencing a second comeback.
Statistics compiled by the US International Trade Commission, an independent federal agency, show the US imported US$1.7 billion worth of South Korean cosmetics in 2024, a 54 per cent increase from a year earlier.
Additionally, global business advisory and consulting firm Nexdigm confirmed that the US K-beauty skincare market, valued at US$22.6 billion in 2024, is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4 per cent to reach US$34.62 billion over the 2024 to 2030 period.
“Olive Young’s entry will be one of the most interesting retail moves we’ve seen in a while,” Naomi Omamuli Emiko, founder and owner of TNGE, a marketing agency and growth studio built to accelerate beauty and wellness brands.
What experts have to say about Olive Young’s US retail play
For as competitive as the US retail market is, with an estimated revenue of US$105.7 billion as of 2025, there haven’t been any new, major entrants in the scene in over two decades.
As Kimber Maderazzo, a professor of marketing at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, told Inside Retail, “I’m excited to see another player enter the beauty retail landscape. This industry thrives on choice, and there’s room for formats that speak to different consumers.”
Where Sephora has a strong hold on prestige Gen Z and Millennial shoppers and Ulta serves a broad mix of consumer groups across price points and categories, Maderazzo noted that Olive Young has mastered a market that these two giants have only skimmed the surface of, K-beauty.
“Olive Young gives shoppers something different – access to brands and routines they may not have discovered otherwise.”
While Sephora and Ulta carry a few well-known K-beauty brands, like Laneige and Fwee, Olive Young’s new physical stores reportedly will have over 200 K-beauty 200 brands, including confirmed names such as Ma:nyo, Dr Althea, Mediheal, Round Lab, D’Alba and Purito, as well as the brand’s in-house lines Colorgram, Bringgreen and Bioheal Boh.
Additionally, Maderazzo thinks that Olive Young’s store format will give the company a competitive edge as they open more physical shops in the US.
“The energy, the discovery and the playfulness create a format that invites you to explore and enjoy beauty in a new way. It will bring something fresh to the industry and will give consumers the chance to experience the fun and accessibility this retailer is known for. It’s good for shoppers, good for brands and ultimately pushes the beauty landscape forward.”
However, Maderazzo warned that to succeed in the US, Olive Young will need to lean into what sets it apart: curated K-beauty, accessible price points, and a discovery-driven in-store experience.
Education will be key to helping US shoppers understand routines, ingredients and the benefits behind the categories K-beauty is known for. In addition to focusing on building strong community engagement and creating stores that feel interactive rather than transactional, this will help Olive Young stand out in a crowded market.
“If they stay true to what makes them special, they’ll carve out a meaningful space in the US beauty landscape.”
Similarly, Naomi Omamuli Emiko, founder and owner of TNGE, a marketing agency and growth studio built to accelerate beauty and wellness brands, remarked that the company’s success in the US won’t come from trying to be “another Sephora”.
“What Olive Young can win on is what they already dominate in South Korea: discovery, democracy and sheer cultural velocity,” she said. “If they try to upscale themselves into an Ulta or Sephora hybrid, they’ll lose the plot immediately.”
Emiko noted that Olive Young also needs to be mindful that the convenience-meets-beauty energy that works in Seoul isn’t native to the US retail psyche.
To win over the overstimulated American shopper, the Seoul-born beauty retailer will need to localise its operations without losing its soul.
This can include strategies like opting for extreme curation over endless choice, relatable pricing in a hyper-inflated category and social-first storytelling to make shopping at Olive Young a discovery experience that feels fun, not transactional.
“They will win if they position themselves as the cultural gateway to K-beauty, not the competitor to existing giants. If they lean into that, they’re not fighting Ulta or Sephora, but building a new lane entirely,” Emiko concluded.
Further reading: Olive Young expands to the US as K-beauty’s global rise continues
