CJ Olive Young will expand investment in regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area this year. It aims to strengthen competitiveness outside the capital region by renovating aging stores, reinforcing hub stores and supplementing logistics infrastructure. The move is also seen as an effort to bolster regional hub functions and logistics capacity as online sales steadily increase.

Industry sources said on Wednesday that CJ Olive Young will invest 123.8 billion won in regions outside the capital area this year. It plans to spend on new store openings, store renovations and logistics infrastructure upgrades. Olive Young has been increasing investment in offline stores since the COVID-19 endemic phase. The company said investment related to building stores rose 36 percent from a year earlier.

A notable part of the investment is overhauling stores outside the capital region. Recent investment in those regions has focused more on improving the competitiveness of existing stores and raising operating efficiency than on expanding openings. As it approaches about 20 years in business, the number of aging stores outside the capital region has also increased, raising the need for refurbishment. CJ Olive Young said the need has grown to upgrade in-store infrastructure, such as introducing electronic labels, and improve store environments.

An analysis says that, given differences in commercial district characteristics, tourism demand and delivery infrastructure gaps by region, improving efficiency at existing stores and strengthening hub functions have become more important outside the capital region than opening new stores.

In key commercial districts outside the capital region, it will also place large stores to serve as hubs. Of 78 large stores of at least 100 pyeong planned for investment this year, it decided to place more than half, or 43, outside the capital region. Olive Young has recently been increasing large, specialised "town" stores in densely packed commercial areas such as Myeongdong, Hongdae and Gangnam. It appears to be a strategy to expand regional hubs by applying the same approach to key districts outside the capital region.

A recent trend of foreign tourist demand spreading beyond Seoul is also cited as one reason for expanded investment outside the capital region. CJ Olive Young said sales at offline stores in the fourth quarter of last year grew 21 percent from a year earlier. It said inbound sales growth outpaced the increase in foreign visitors to South Korea. Foreign-customer sales rose more than 120 percent from a year earlier in South Gyeongsang Province, North Chungcheong Province and Ulsan.

It plans to create global specialised stores in major tourist areas such as Busan, Jeju and Gyeongju. It also plans to build hub stores centred on old and new downtown areas in the Gyeongsang, Jeolla and Chungcheong regions to increase customer inflows. An assessment says the strategy outside the capital region is closer to building hubs tailored to each commercial district than uniform expansion in store size.

Olive Young sees such hub stores as also affecting the revitalisation of commercial districts. Town stores in the Daejeon, Seomyeon and Gangneung districts saw visitor numbers rise an average of 25 percent over the previous year in the six months after opening. The company said visitors drawn in around hub stores are also affecting broader consumption flows in nearby commercial areas.

Expanding its online business is also cited as one reason for investment outside the capital region. Olive Young's annual online share of sales on a separate basis steadily rose to 30.7 percent in 2025 from 24.3 percent in 2021. With the online share above 30 percent, strengthening hub stores and logistics capacity outside the capital region is seen as a step to improve delivery competitiveness and inventory operating efficiency.

An assessment says the strengthening of hubs could also have a positive effect on expanding the base of online orders in regional areas. The investment also includes plans to expand operations of the Gyeongsan centre and regional micro-fulfilment centres.

A CJ Olive Young official said, "This investment outside the capital region focuses on qualitative growth, not additional store openings." The official added, "It will proceed in a direction that revitalises local commercial districts, such as highlighting regional characteristics and increasing demand from foreign travellers."