Uniqlo reopens its largest-ever store in Myeong-dong; Musinsa Standard fires back with a second nearby location. Both brands have topped 1 trillion won in sales as their offline rivalry intensifies, with head-to-head matchups emerging across key retail districts.
On the afternoon of June 2 — the day before the June 3 local elections, a public holiday — lines stretched beyond the fitting-room waiting area on the first floor of Uniqlo's Myeong-dong store in Jung-gu, Seoul. The store was packed with shoppers taking advantage of the brand's annual "Uniqlo Thank You Festival," its biggest discount event of the year. The "UTme!" zone, where customers can design their own T-shirts, was filled to capacity.
About 450 meters away, Musinsa Standard's Myeong-dong store was equally crowded. More than 10 customers queued at the first-floor checkout, and every fitting room on the third floor was occupied. Most shoppers were foreign tourists. A Chinese tourist browsing the women's section held up a windbreaker jacket priced around 30,000 won ($22) and said, "Good quality and cheap."
Competition between Uniqlo and Musinsa is heating up in the heart of Myeong-dong, as the homegrown challenger mounts an aggressive pursuit of the Japanese retailer, which has reclaimed the top spot in South Korea's select-price apparel, or SPA, market.
Musinsa plans to open Musinsa Standard Myeong-dong Jungang, a roughly 500-pyeong (1,650-square-meter) store near Myeong-dong Station, in September, according to industry sources. It would be the second Musinsa Standard location in the Myeong-dong retail district, sitting close to Uniqlo's Myeong-dong flagship. That store opened May 22 as the brand's largest in South Korea, marking Uniqlo's return to the district five years after it withdrew from its Myeong-dong Jungang location amid the "No Japan" consumer boycott and the COVID-19 downturn.
Both Uniqlo and Musinsa are fashion giants that have surpassed 1 trillion won ($724 million) in annual sales. FRL Korea, which operates Uniqlo in South Korea, posted sales of about 1.3523 trillion won ($979 million) and operating profit of 270.4 billion won ($196 million) for the fiscal year ending August 2025 — up 27.6 percent and 81.6 percent, respectively, from the prior period, recovering to peak-era levels. Musinsa recorded sales of 1.3529 trillion won ($979 million) for 2025, a 22.9 percent increase from the prior year, with operating profit rising 29.7 percent to 145.8 billion won ($105 million).
In SPA product sales alone, Uniqlo leads by a wide margin. Its product sales reached 1.3514 trillion won ($978 million), up 17.6 percent from the prior period. Musinsa's product sales — driven largely by Musinsa Standard — came to 445.9 billion won ($323 million) last year. The gap is significant, but Musinsa's growth trajectory is striking.
Musinsa Standard's product sales hit approximately 115.2 billion won ($83 million) in the first quarter of this year, surpassing 100 billion won in a single quarter for the first time. Uniqlo currently operates 134 stores in South Korea, compared with 42 for Musinsa Standard. The two brands' battlegrounds are expected to multiply, as both pursue a strategy of maximizing returns through stores in prime retail locations. This year, they opened side by side at Starfield Village Unjeong in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.
"We are seeing more cases where Uniqlo and Musinsa Standard end up competing right next to each other or directly across from each other in major retail districts," an industry official said. "The ability to attract consumers by reflecting rapidly changing trends — on top of product quality — will become increasingly important going forward."
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