PASADSENA, Calif. – CJ Olive Young, Korea’s leading retailer of beauty and skin care products, is entering the world’s largest beauty market this week with the opening of its first U.S. store.
The Pasadena outlet will carry around 5,000 products from roughly 400 beauty and wellness brands when it opens on Friday, May 29. The store is envisioned as a "K-beauty showcase," combining the brands, AI-powered skin analysis, and personalized consultations that are driving Olive Young’s emergence as a global beauty and wellness platform.
The store will feature ingredient-focused sections highlighting trending K-beauty skin care components such as hyaluronic acid and PDRN, along with beauty tools including skin care patches and devices for gua sha [a healing technique and facial massage using a smooth stone or tool to gently stroke the skin], according to the Korea Herald.
Dedicated testing zones will allow customers to try products such as cleansers, toner pads and sunscreens before purchase.
Gaeun Kwon, appointed earlier this year as chief executive officer of Olive Young USA, said employees at the Pasadena store will help shoppers, including those unfamiliar with K-beauty, discover and incorporate authentic Korean beauty into their daily lives.
Additional California locations are planned for later this year, including Westfield shopping centers in Los Angeles. The stores are expected to stock 200 brands, including in-house lines such as Colorgram, Bringgreen and Bioheal Boh, alongside popular Korean names like Anua, Sungboon Editor, Dr Althea, and Mediheal.
CJ Olive Young has more than 1,370 stores in South Korea and nearly 64,000 products. The Seoul-based company says its online platform serves more than 5 million international customers in 150 countries. Its South Korean stores are destinations for an expanding flock of international tourists, who accounted for 26% of the stores’ sales in the first half of 2025.
Korean cosmetics and beauty regimes have been around for a while but are breaking into the mainstream as social media influencers and mass market retailers get behind the pace-setting trends. Korean beauty products have a growing presence at U.S. retailers including Sephora and Walmart. Ulta Beauty last year expanded K-beauty offerings at its more than 1,400 stores.
