[Field Report] Fashion Brands Every 100 Meters... Myeongdong Emerges as a Global Showroom

The North Face and Musinsa Open Stores in Myeongdong
More Than 90% of Store Customers Are Foreigners
Showrooms Build Brand Awareness Ahead of Overseas Expansion

The North Face White Label Myeongdong Lounge, which opened on October 6 on Myeongdong UNESCO-gil (Myeongdong-gil) in Jung-gu, Seoul. The first floor houses the Myeongdong Collection and women’s products, the second floor features unisex clothing, and the third floor carries shoes and bags. A rooftop is located on the fourth floor. It is Youngone Outdoor’s second White Label flagship store, following the one it opened in Seongsu-dong last year. With the opening of the lounge, following its North Face flagship store near Myeongdong Station, Youngone Outdoor has expanded its retail presence in the Myeongdong shopping district. More than 90% of its customers are foreign nationals. A Nordisk store operated by K2 Korea Group is right next door. Salomon and Kolon Sport stores are also located about 100 meters away.

Myeongdong is emerging as a battleground for domestic and international fashion brands. New store openings and relocations to larger spaces have continued from last month through this month. Outdoor and sports brands, specialty store retailers of private-label apparel (SPA), and emerging casual brands are all moving into the area. They aim to sell fashion products to foreign tourists while raising brand awareness. Chinese tourists, who make up the largest number of visitors to Korea, are a key target.

According to industry sources on October 16, Musinsa Standard opened its Myeongdong Jungang store on September 8 on Jungang-ro (Myeongdong 8-gil), near Myeongdong Station. It is the brand’s second store in Myeongdong. After confirming demand from foreign customers at its existing Myeongdong store, the company added another location in the same shopping district. Amer Sports’ Salomon relocated to a larger space previously occupied by Eider. Nordisk has also opened a store in Myeongdong to attract tourists.

Fashion brand stores on Myeongdong UNESCO-gil on the 14th.

25 Brands from Myeongdong UNESCO-gil to Jungang-ro

More than 25 fashion brands have set up shop along the stretch from UNESCO-gil to Jungang-ro. Outdoor and casual stores have opened among global brands such as Zara, Nike and Adidas. Shoppers can browse sneakers at New Balance and Salomon, and compare windbreakers and down jackets at The North Face and Kolon Sport. Kodak, Discovery and Snow Peak are also nearby. Jungang-ro is lined with stores including MLB, EMIS, Matin Kim and Marithe Francois Girbaud.

The concentration of brands has also made shopping more convenient. After choosing sneakers, shoppers can browse clothes, hats and bags at nearby stores. The area also stands to benefit as tourists who visit for a particular brand are drawn into surrounding stores. Extending their shopping route to Lotte Department Store and the main branch of Shinsegae Department Store gives them even more choices.

Fashion companies are investing in Myeongdong because they can pursue sales and overseas marketing benefits at the same time. Before opening stores abroad, they can introduce their products to consumers from various countries and gauge responses to different products and price ranges. They are also banking on turning tourists who encounter their brands in Korea into customers at local stores or online shops after they return home. In this way, Myeongdong stores serve as showrooms for overseas expansion.

In its L.Point Trend Report published in July, Lotte Members described Seongsu as a shopping district where consumers discover new brands, and Myeongdong and department stores as places where discovery leads to purchases. Large stores in Myeongdong, the report said, give tourists a place to try on products, compare them with other brands and then make a purchase.

Building Brand Awareness Before Expanding Overseas

Spending is also rising alongside the increase in tourist numbers. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, 15.05 million foreign tourists visited Korea from January to August, up 21.6% from 12.38 million in the same period last year. Foreigners’ credit card spending in the tourism sector surged 48.5% year over year to 14.018 trillion won.

Chinese tourists are the largest customer group. From January to August this year, 4,816,134 Chinese visitors came to Korea, the highest number of tourists from any country. That was about 1.8 times the 2,698,857 visitors from Japan. They were followed by Taiwan with 1,656,255, the United States with 1,079,727 and Hong Kong with 495,680.

Chinese tourists’ credit card spending was concentrated in Seoul. Seoul accounted for 69.7% of their credit card spending by region. Within Seoul, Jung-gu, which includes Myeongdong, accounted for 34.25%, higher than Gangnam-gu’s 27.67%. Shopping made up 53.7% of Chinese tourists’ credit card spending on tourism. In other words, they spent more than half of their tourism-related card spending on shopping.

Brands that established a presence in the area early have seen demand from foreign customers translate into sales. Kolon Sport’s flagship store, which opened in Myeongdong, Seoul, in January this year, has become a popular shopping destination for foreign tourists. From February through July, it welcomed about 160,000 visitors, averaging 26,000 per month. Foreigners accounted for 89% of visitors, with Chinese tourists making up the largest group by nationality.

Foreign sales at LF Hazzys’ Myeongdong flagship store, Space H Seoul, rose by more than 40% last month compared with the same period a year earlier. Foreign customers accounted for 70% of total sales.

“Growth is limited if you rely solely on the domestic market, and Myeongdong is a stepping stone to overseas expansion,” a fashion industry official said. “Companies looking to raise brand awareness in the Myeongdong shopping district before expanding overseas are paying monthly rents of 100 million to 200 million won to secure a spot.”

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