Korean Retailer Musinsa Sets Nov. 11 Opening for 14,000-Square-Foot Seoul Beauty Store

South Korean retailer Musinsa will open a two-story beauty store in Seoul's Seongsu neighborhood on Nov. 11.

The store is called Musinsa Beauty Seongsu. It sits at 87 Yeonmujang-gil in Seongdong District and covers about 1,300 square meters, or roughly 14,000 square feet, across its first and second floors. It will sell more than 10,000 products from about 700 brands in skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair and body care.

Musinsa announced the opening on Oct. 30. The Seongsu location is the company's second stand-alone beauty store, following Musinsa Beauty Hongdae, which opened in September. Musinsa said the new store puts Korean and international brands that are hard to find in other offline beauty stores under one roof, along with "pharmacy beauty" products that shoppers can buy after talking with a pharmacist.

Of the brands in the store, 99, or about 15 percent, have never been sold in a Musinsa Beauty store before. They include Cosrx, Bioderma, Jill Stuart Beauty and Ameli, along with three dermatological skin care brands and newer labels such as an ear patch brand and a shower glove brand.

The first floor focuses on skin care, makeup and fragrance brands. It includes a "Next Beauty" zone for emerging brands and a "Touch-Up Bar" where shoppers can try makeup.

The first floor also has a single-brand pop-up zone of about 530 square feet. Musinsa said it built the space so indie brands that would struggle to run their own stores can show their products and see how shoppers react.

The second floor centers on hair, body, dental and men's care brands. It has a "Musinsa Beauty Ranking Zone" for popular products and a "Musinsa Beauty Focus Dermo Zone" that sorts dermatological brands by skin concern. The floor also houses Beauty Onnuri Pharmacy, a pharmacy that specializes in beauty.

Musinsa worked with Beauty Onnuri Pharmacy at its Hongdae store and is doing so again in Seongsu. The company used sales data from the Hongdae location to pick about 100 high-demand brands for the pharmacy's lineup.

The pharmacy groups its products by concern, including acne and breakouts, dark spots and pigmentation, hair loss, and dryness. Its range runs from over-the-counter medicines to dermocosmetics and skin care, and customers can talk with a pharmacist before choosing a product.

The building used to be an auto repair shop, and Musinsa kept its steel frame. Inside and out, the store uses coral, Musinsa Beauty's signature color. AIM, a Shanghai-based architecture and interior design studio, worked on the design of the space.

A Musinsa Beauty representative said the store would give customers a place to find new brands and try them in person. The representative added that it would give brands a chance to show their strengths and reach new customers.

The representative said the company plans to keep finding indie beauty brands with strong growth potential and to help them grow by linking its online and offline channels.