This is not a drill: Olive Young stores are coming to the US! This week, Korea’s No. 1 Health & Beauty Store Olive Young announced plans to expand into the North American market with the opening of its very first store in Pasadena (CA) by May 2026. And shortly thereafter, more California stores, including locations in Westfield shopping centers across the LA area, will soon follow.
K-Beauty’s online presence is no joke. TikTok has 2.46 million posts on #K-Beauty, 2.31 million on #koreanskincare, and 138,000 on #oliveyoung. As this global popularity dominates social media, Olive Young’s expansion to US stores is a natural but landmark milestone.
Why Koreans Love Olive Young
In South Korea, K-Beauty enthusiasts have access to 1,371 Olive Young stores, with one seemingly around every corner. When I visited Seoul this summer, every few blocks there was an Olive Young, never more than a 10-minute walk away from wherever you stood within city limits.
Inside the store, help is never far. Every few feet, there’s a knowledgeable worker repeatedly encouraging customers to ask for help. The message is clear. Don’t be shy: walk in, explore, and discover a reasonably priced product you’ll love.
Stores are usually bustling, for good reason. This one-stop shop has everything you need. Olive Young’s competitive prices, constant deals, and endless testers make it a mecca for both beauty enthusiasts and curious novices who don’t know where to start. Give them a keyword, and they’ll pick out an entire lineup of products that, for instance, perfectly complements the “mocha mousse makeup” your color consultant told you will flatter your skintone.
According to the Korea Herald, “They lay everything out, bright, neat, easy to touch and try. You don’t feel pressured, and you don’t feel judged for spending 30 minutes testing cushions on your wrist. It also feels like a mirror of Korean beauty culture right now—fresh, curious, always changing.” They value curating an environment where customers can easily “uncover products, services, and experiences that seamlessly fit into your daily life.”
Olive Young’s clear finger on the pulse of what’s trending is why Koreans find them trustworthy.
As a bonus, extensive features like same-day in-store pickup, smart return services, and free memberships that feature compounding benefits make shopping even more enticing.
Beauty products on display at Olive Young store in Seoul, Korea.
How Olive Young is different from Sephora
In South Korea, Olive Young became such a strong competitor that Sephora withdrew from the market in May 2024 after suffering financial losses.
While Sephora’s stores phased out, Olive Young’s partners, pioneering features, and sustainability efforts increasingly set them apart. Flagship stores like Olive Young N-Seongsu offer interactive services like scalp & skin diagnostics, personalized product recommendations, and in-store makeup touch-ups by professionals.
While my friend hauled her shopping bag through the Seongsu store’s five floors filled with products, I decorated a free fan with bright green stamps and markers. I walked out of the Seongsu store without purchasing anything and still left happy and satisfied.
The large company is also leading sustainability efforts. Olive Young’s Clean Beauty initiative set the standards for sustainable beauty, focusing on safe ingredients and eco-friendly values. “To ensure product safety for both people and the environment, [the initiative] established ingredient exclusion criteria and grants an emblem to qualifying products. As the first Korean cosmetics distributor to establish a proprietary Clean Beauty standard in 2022, Olive Young has since expanded its product categories and tightened the standards. These efforts are ongoing, with a clear goal of advancing Clean Beauty and evolving into a conscious beauty.”
Their strategy sets them apart from traditional beauty retail channels. “We offer a diverse range of trendy products and services. By curating store designs and product assortments tailored to local communities and commercial areas, we have positioned ourselves as a lifestyle platform where customers can experience the latest trends first,” the company states in their history.
Their vision is to “enrich every moment, every day, and ultimately your life through the power of healthy beauty. We provide the inspiration and energy that our customers need to make their lives healthier and more beautiful.”
And of course, the heaps of free samples also help. If you ask the cashier to throw some in your bag, Olive Young is never stingy.
Curious about what products Olive Young offers? Want to get a head start on your Olive Young shopping spree? Read more here: Viral K-Beauty Products I Tried So You Don’t Have To, Part 1 and Part 2.
