CJ Olive Young has opened its first offline store in the United States as it moves to target the local market. Olive Young said on May 21 it will open the "Olive Young Pasadena" store on May 29 at 58 Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California. A U.S.-only online mall will also launch the same day.

The move aims to build a base to support Korean small and indie brands entering the U.S. market, beyond simply expanding sales channels. At the initial opening stage, the Pasadena store will offer about 5,000 items from about 400 beauty and wellness brands. It will include K-beauty brands with proven popularity in Korea, brands with strong response in the North American market, and global brands reflecting U.S. local trends. Product curation will be updated as frequently as every 2 weeks. It also plans to introduce local promotions and a membership program to raise awareness of brands in the store.

The store was designed for consumers to experience K-beauty directly. It includes ingredient-exploration displays for hyaluronic acid and PDRN, and display areas linked to beauty accessories such as gua sha tools and patches. It also has sinks to try cleansing products and dedicated experience areas for toner pads and sun care. It will run skin and scalp diagnosis services and one-point consulting on K-beauty skincare routines. A display near the entrance will spotlight 1 K-beauty brand to support experiential marketing.

Lee Sun-jung (이선정), Olive Young's chief executive, said, "Just as we have discovered numerous small brands and grown together in a beauty market once centered on a few large and overseas brands, we want to contribute to helping K-beauty and K-lifestyle take root more deeply in overseas markets."

Olive Young plans to first increase its foothold centered on western regions such as Los Angeles and California, and then expand to the central and southern regions and the eastern area including New York. It will reflect operating data secured at the Pasadena store in improvements to product selection, services and in-store traffic flow.

Kwon Ga-eun (권가은), head of Olive Young's U.S. unit, said it will work to help local consumers who are still unfamiliar with K-beauty discover and make a routine of "real K-beauty" through Olive Young's online and offline stores.