Olive Young vs Musinsa: The Intensifying "Seongsu Battle"

Musinsa Establishes Over 10 Hubs for Fashion, Beauty, and Living
Olive Young Opens "Beauty Mansion," Expanding to Six Stores in Seongsu
"Test Bed" for Foreigners and Millennials/Gen Z
Offline Platform Competition Intensifies

Beauty specialty store CJ Olive Young and fashion platform Musinsa are clashing in Seongsu-dong, which has emerged as a key commercial district in Seoul. Musinsa, which grew as an online-based platform, has launched more than ten stores in succession, transforming the Seongsu area into "Musinsa Town." In response, Olive Young has expanded its presence in Seongsu to six locations, including the opening of its experiential "Beauty Mansion" store. This signals the start of an intense competition for dominance in the Seongsu commercial district between these two leading names in fashion and beauty.

According to industry sources on July 2, Olive Young unveiled its experiential concept store "Beauty Mansion" in Seongsu-dong on June 30. Olive Young now operates a total of six stores in the Seongsu area, including its flagship "Olive YoungN Seongsu," Olive Young Seongsu Station Branch, Olive Young Seongsu Yeonbang Branch, Olive Young Ttukseom Station Branch, and Olive Young Seoul Forest Station Branch. Building on its K-beauty experiential space centered around "Olive YoungN Seongsu," the company has expanded its presence to Bukseongsu, aiming to create a comprehensive K-beauty ecosystem throughout Seongsu.

Although Olive Young established an early foothold in the Seongsu commercial district with stores such as the Seongsu Station Branch (2015), it was Musinsa that strategically nurtured Seongsu as a branded town. Starting in 2023 with Empty Seongsu and Musinsa Standard Seongsu, Musinsa has continued to expand its offline presence by sequentially opening Musinsa Store Seongsu, 29 Home, 29 Kids, Kicks, a running specialty store, and the Bag & Cap Club. This year, Musinsa opened Musinsa Megastore Seongsu—housing both Musinsa Beauty and Musinsa Standard—and plans to introduce additional stores, including 29 Home Seoul Forest, Musinsa Standard Seoul Forest Branch, and a Musinsa Beauty specialty store in the second half of the year.

The company also operates "Musinsa Beauty Space 1," a dedicated pop-up space for individual brands. Musinsa has actively invested in branding the district, even participating in the Seongsu Station nameplate project, establishing Seongsu as its flagship offline hub. What began as a fashion-driven strategy has evolved into a platform town, expanding into living, kids, sports, and beauty sectors.

Musinsa Megastore Seongsu. Courtesy of Musinsa

This direct confrontation between the two companies is taking place as Seongsu-dong has emerged over the past few years as the most effective "test bed" for brand promotion. Seongsu has become one of the most popular commercial districts among domestic consumers in their 20s and 30s, and the number of foreign tourists is rapidly increasing. The ability to maximize brand experience through pop-up stores and experiential content is a major advantage of Seongsu-dong.

In fact, the proportion of foreign customers visiting Seongsu is rising rapidly. According to Musinsa, in the 50 days following the April opening of Musinsa Megastore Seongsu, the share of foreign purchases jumped by 40%. At the Musinsa Beauty store inside the Megastore, foreign customers accounted for 64.2% of all customers between June 1st and 14th. For 29 Home Seongsu, the monthly proportion of sales to foreign customers reached 56% over the past three months (March to May). In other words, about half of the buyers are foreigners. Likewise, at Olive YoungN Seongsu, the proportion of sales to foreign customers reached 85% for the period from January to May 2026. Foreign sales increased by 30% year-on-year.

An industry insider commented, "While Musinsa has created the 'Seongsu of fashion,' Olive Young appears to be pursuing a strategy to establish the 'Seongsu of K-beauty.' Ultimately, the outcome of the platform competition between the two companies will depend on which can make target customers—especially foreign tourists—stay longer and connect them to more diverse brand experiences."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.