South Korea’s Beauty Giant Picks Old Pasadena for Its American Debut, on Friday

The company that put Korean skincare in 1,380 stores across South Korea is betting its American future on a single storefront between an Apple Store and a Crate & Barrel on Colorado Boulevard.

CJ Olive Young, the dominant beauty retailer in South Korea, opens its first U.S. brick-and-mortar location at 58 West Colorado Boulevard on Friday at 11 a.m.

The 8,647-square-foot store arrives as Korean beauty imports to the U.S. surged 54% in 2024, reaching $1.7 billion, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. California alone accounts for 40% of the company’s American online sales, according to Olive Young, making Old Pasadena a calculated starting point for what the retailer says will be a national expansion.

The store will carry approximately 400 brands and 5,000 products at launch, according to a company press release issued May 22. The lineup spans Korean skincare labels — including Anua, Biodance, fwee, MEDIHEAL, Mise-en-scène, rom&nd and Torriden — alongside international brands such as CeraVe, Kiehl’s, Lancôme, La Roche-Posay, Sol de Janeiro, Supergoop!, The Ordinary and Urban Decay.

Product curation on the shelves will be refreshed as often as every two weeks, the company said.

Olive Young also plans to offer complimentary skin scans, scalp analysis, and a zone called “The Beauty Lab,” where staff will guide visitors through Korean skincare routines, according to the press release.

A U.S.-exclusive online store launches simultaneously on May 29, with free shipping on orders over $35 — down from $60 on the company’s existing global platform. Fulfillment will run through a new 38,750-square-foot logistics center in Bloomington, California, which the company opened in March, cutting estimated delivery times roughly in half, according to Olive Young.

“Our first store in Pasadena is a forward base to showcase a wide range of Korean brands to the global market,” Gaeun Kwon, CEO of CJ Olive Young USA, said in an interview published by Chosun Biz on May 20. “We will work to ensure that even local consumers still unfamiliar with K-beauty can discover and make ‘real K-beauty’ part of their everyday routines through Olive Young’s on-offline stores.”

Kwon, who has worked at Olive Young since 2011 and was named the first CEO of its U.S. subsidiary in March, also said in the company’s official press release that the U.S. debut “marks an important step in bringing a more personalized and seamless beauty discovery experience to American consumers.”

The retailer plans to open four more California locations in coming months, including one at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles, Chief Operating Officer Jinhee Lee told Bloomberg. The company has said it will then target East Coast markets, including New York, before expanding into the South and Central U.S.

Olive Young is a subsidiary of CJ Group, a Seoul-based conglomerate founded in 1953 that operates across food, logistics, entertainment, and retail. The retailer, which is not publicly listed, reported annual sales exceeding 5.8 trillion won approximately $3.93 billion and its revenue rose 14.4% in the first quarter of 2025 to approximately $888 million, according to financial reporting by industry publications. The parent company’s predecessor, Cheil Jedang, was founded by Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, though CJ Group now operates independently.

In January, Olive Young announced a strategic partnership with LVMH-owned Sephora to introduce Olive Young-curated Korean beauty zones in approximately 700 Sephora stores across North America beginning in fall 2026, according to a CJ Newsroom press release.

Kwon framed the American expansion as something more than a retail play.

“We see Olive Young not only as a destination for K-beauty, but as a discovery platform that brings together diverse beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands from Korea and beyond,” she said.