MUSINSA opens 100 offline stores in five years

[Financial News] MUSINSA has opened more than 100 stores in the five years since entering offline retail. Its retail model of taking brands discovered online into physical stores has attracted more than 100 million visitors in total.
According to industry sources on the 9th, MUSINSA has opened 93 stores in Korea and seven overseas. Its 100th store will be MUSINSA Beauty Seongsu, which opens on the 11th in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. Including the four stores of U.S. fashion brand Champion, with which it signed a domestic distribution agreement last year, MUSINSA operates a total of 104 stores.
MUSINSA has been accelerating its pace of store openings each year. After opening its first store in 2021 and gradually increasing its store count, it sharply increased the number of new stores opened last year to 31. This year, it has opened 40 new stores, including MUSINSA Beauty Seongsu. That amounts to one store every eight days over five years.
Store visitor numbers are also rising rapidly. From the start of this year through last month, visitor numbers at 75 major stores in Korea, including MUSINSA Store, Musinsa Standard, MUSINSA Megastore and 29CM, rose 92% from the same period a year earlier. Among them, visitor numbers at MUSINSA Store and Musinsa Standard locations increased by 84% and 49%, respectively.
Foreign tourists are also continuing to visit. From January to October this year, foreign nationals accounted for 52% of purchasing customers at three MUSINSA Store locations in Seongsu, Hongdae and Myeong-dong in Seoul. Foreign customers made up 42% of the clientele at Musinsa Standard stores in the same commercial districts.
MUSINSA is expanding its store network with its private brand (PB), Musinsa Standard, at the center. Focusing on retail channels with high foot traffic, such as department stores and mixed-use shopping malls, it has expanded from Seoul and the greater capital region to major regional cities including Changwon, Cheonan and Gwangju.
MUSINSA is focusing on developing MUSINSA Store locations into hub stores, including by increasing the number of brands at stores in Seoul’s key commercial districts. It is also adding specialty stores such as beauty, KICKS, and Bag & Cap Club, tailored to the characteristics of each commercial district. This year, MUSINSA Store locations have expanded beyond Seoul into Gyeonggi Province and Incheon. 29CM has increased its store count to eight since opening 29HOME Seongsu in June last year.
Overseas, MUSINSA began with two stores in Shanghai, China, in December last year and continued opening stores this year in cities including Hangzhou and Shenzhen, bringing its total to seven.
MUSINSA plans to open six more stores by the end of the year, including Musinsa Standard stores in Korea and overseas and MUSINSA KICKS stores.
A MUSINSA representative said, “By applying the e-commerce identity it built online to its offline business and leveraging its distinctive speed and execution, MUSINSA quickly established itself in the market.” The representative added, “Overseas, we will expand our stores beyond China into Japan, Southeast Asia and other markets, taking the offline model proven in Korea to the global market.”
[email protected] Kang Myeong-yeon Reporter