CJ Olive Young to add 5 US stores by first half of next year, expanding into San Diego

CJ Olive Young said it will open five additional stores in California by the first half of 2027, bringing its total US presence to seven locations.

The new stores will be spread across the greater Los Angeles area and San Diego. In greater Los Angeles, the company plans to open at Spectrum Center in Irvine, Del Amo Fashion Center in the South Bay, Bloom on 3rd near the Farmers Market in downtown Los Angeles, and Brea Mall in Orange County.

In San Diego, the company will open at Fashion Valley. All locations are expected to open by the first half of next year, though individual store schedules have not been finalized. Del Amo Fashion Center, Brea Mall and Fashion Valley are all operated by Simon Property Group, a US retail real estate company, making them high-traffic anchor destinations.

CJ Olive Young said it plans to use the expansion to give domestic small and independent Korean brands greater access to the US market. Emerging brands without their own distribution networks or local name recognition will be able to leverage CJ Olive Young's curation and brick-and-mortar network to build their profile.

The US stores carry K-beauty products in formats new to American consumers, including sun sticks, sun cushions and toner pads. The in-store skin analysis service SkinScan logged more than 27,000 cumulative users in roughly five months since launch.

"CJ Olive Young's physical stores in the United States serve as a strategic channel for spreading the excellence of K-beauty products locally, and as a bridge helping emerging brands establish themselves in the mainstream market," a company official said. "We will lay the groundwork for growth so that K-beauty becomes the mainstream of the market."