Musinsa Beauty opens its first standalone store in Hongdae

Partners with Onnuri Pharmacy to launch 'pharmacy beauty' concept

More than 70% of products come from indie brands as a 'discovery channel'

'Sales pitches were tough': taking on CJ Olive Young and Daiso

Products from a range of brands are displayed on the first floor of Musinsa Beauty Hongdae, visited on Thursday morning. The store presents about 12,000 products from about 870 brands, more than 70 percent of which are emerging and indie brands rarely found at other offline retailers.
Products from a range of brands are displayed on the first floor of Musinsa Beauty Hongdae, visited on Thursday morning. The store presents about 12,000 products from about 870 brands, more than 70 percent of which are emerging and indie brands rarely found at other offline retailers.

"We wanted to create a space where customers could enjoy themselves while experiencing a variety of things," said Kim Yeon-jin, head of Musinsa Beauty's offline team.

A new "K-beauty playground" has opened in Seoul's Hongdae. Musinsa Beauty Hongdae, where indie brands make up 70 percent of products in major categories, opens officially on Friday. It is Musinsa's second offline store after the Musinsa Seongsu megastore, and its first standalone store.

Musinsa Beauty Hongdae serves as a "discovery channel" that seeks out new brands and products and connects them with consumers. Spanning 1,262 square meters from the basement floor to the third floor above ground, the store carries about 12,000 products from about 870 brands. The basement floor houses an entire "Beauty Onnuri Pharmacy," staffed by resident pharmacists. The company aims to introduce next-generation products that will carry forward the K-beauty boom in Hongdae, a district crowded with young domestic consumers and foreign tourists visiting Korea.

Kim, who led the project, said at a media tour on Thursday, "Our keyword is 'Next Beauty' — we hope indie brands that will lead the cosmetics industry can grow through Musinsa's online and offline platforms." She added, "We also hope this can become a space where foreign visitors to Korea discover K-beauty brands they did not know before."

The exterior of Musinsa Beauty Hongdae.
The exterior of Musinsa Beauty Hongdae.

An entire pharmacy inside: 'pharmacy beauty' goes beyond derma beauty

The pharmacy on the basement floor is the core of "pharmacy beauty," a concept Musinsa Beauty Hongdae is introducing for the first time. In the 176-square-meter store, about 2,000 products from 270 brands are sold. Unlike typical pharmacies, more than 90 percent of the shelf space is devoted to beauty products. Two or more pharmacists are always on hand to offer customized advice, from acne care to hair and scalp treatments. Musinsa worked with Onnuri Pharmacy from the product-lineup planning stage.

Onnuri Pharmacy operates as a separate business, run independently of Musinsa. The collaboration goes a step further than typical beauty specialty stores that merely sell dermatology-linked products. Musinsa signed a partnership agreement with Onnuri Pharmacy in August. "As with any regular pharmacy, we also offer prescription dispensing and medication counseling based on prescriptions issued by hospitals and clinics," a Musinsa representative said.

Musinsa Beauty introduced the pharmacy beauty concept with the characteristics of the Hongdae commercial district in mind. According to Musinsa's own data, 67 percent of foot traffic in the Hongdae area comes from foreigners, twice the share of domestic visitors at 33 percent. More than half of domestic foot traffic is female, making Hongdae a key commercial district where both the 20s-and-30s generation and global customers converge at the same time.

The checkout counter of "Beauty Onnuri Pharmacy" on the basement floor of Musinsa Beauty Hongdae. Onnuri Pharmacy, a nationwide pharmacy chain, operates the 176-square-meter store. Unlike typical pharmacies, more than 90 percent of its offerings are beauty products, and two or more pharmacists are always on-site to provide customized consultations.
The checkout counter of "Beauty Onnuri Pharmacy" on the basement floor of Musinsa Beauty Hongdae. Onnuri Pharmacy, a nationwide pharmacy chain, operates the 176-square-meter store. Unlike typical pharmacies, more than 90 percent of its offerings are beauty products, and two or more pharmacists are always on-site to provide customized consultations.

'Next Beauty': indie and emerging brands fill 70% of the lineup

On the first floor, where beauty and fragrance products are sold, emerging brands rarely seen at other offline platforms stand out. C-beauty brands drawing recent attention, Into You and AZTK, made their domestic debut through Musinsa Beauty Hongdae. French niche perfume brand Etat Libre d'Orange and domestic niche perfume brand Selvatigo also opened exclusive corners there. The store also carries a range of makeup products in dark, unconventional colors that are hard to find elsewhere in the domestic market. Of the about 10,000 products from about 600 beauty brands sold in the store, 70 percent come from indie brands.

The store also features a "brand highlighting zone" that spotlights new brands — a space curated to showcase brands drawing attention in global markets but lacking an offline presence in Korea. "We focused on products like color cosmetics and perfumes that Musinsa's core customers, who have a strong sense of individuality, need to express themselves," Kim said.

The second floor brings together skincare, hair, body and dental care products in one place. Unlike the basement floor, where customers can get expert consultations from pharmacists, the second floor is a space where customers browse and choose products themselves based on their skin concerns. The store also set up a "Musinsa Beauty Ranking Zone" based on Musinsa Beauty's actual sales data, selecting the top seven best-selling products by category every three months.

Products from indie brand Sensle are displayed on the first floor of Musinsa Beauty Hongdae.
Products from indie brand Sensle are displayed on the first floor of Musinsa Beauty Hongdae.

Seongsu, Jeju stores planned within the year, taking on CJ Olive Young and Daiso

The focus on indie and emerging brands also helps Musinsa overcome its late-comer status in the beauty platform market. South Korea's beauty platform market is already led by CJ Olive Young, which operates about 1,300 stores nationwide, and now includes Daiso, which runs about 1,600 stores. Near Musinsa Beauty Hongdae alone, there are six CJ Olive Young stores and two Daiso stores.

"For brands, the biggest concern before joining a new channel is their existing sales partners," Kim said. "Sales pitches (to get brands into Musinsa Beauty) were really tough." She added, "To get brands to choose Musinsa, we focused on giving them opportunities and spaces where they could do their own branding directly."

Musinsa Beauty plans to expand the project based on its brand-incubation capabilities linking online and offline channels, its competitiveness in cross-referring customers between fashion and beauty, and the expertise gained through pharmacy beauty. The company aims to actively connect its 16.4 million Musinsa members, built mainly around fashion, as potential customers for Musinsa Beauty.

Musinsa Beauty will open its second standalone store in Seongsu in November and plans to open a combined store with Musinsa Kicks in Jeju by the end of the year. The company will also expand the categories and countries where its private-label products are sold. "Many indie brands have already experienced growth through their partnership with Musinsa," Kim said. "This will be an opportunity to show off brands in an even more distinctive way."


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