Musinsa crowns its Seongsu empire with a pharmacy-beauty flagship

Never has Seoul’s Seongsu Station — which bears "Musinsa" in parentheses on its signs — lived up to its sponsor more fully now that the fashion platform has opened a new standalone beauty store in its stronghold on the city’s hottest retail strip.

Musinsa Beauty Seongsu, which opened Wednesday as the brand’s 100th brick-and-mortar location and its second standalone beauty shop after the Hongdae flagship, feeds off a cluster of Musinsa’s private label, multibrand, sneaker and lifestyle shops.

Together they form what the company calls Musinsa Town, its sprawling domain around Seongsu Station.

"With the station as our starting point, Seongsu sits at the heart of our strategy," a company official said during a media briefing Tuesday. "This space puts the finishing touch on a lineup covering every category that suits a customer’s taste."

The new flagship wears the company's signature coral pink on the facade, and inside, two floors carry about 700 brands and 10,000 products, 80 percent of them from independent labels.

On the ground floor, skincare and makeup share space with Seongsu’s largest fragrance zone, while a pop-up booth spotlights a new brand every two weeks. Upstairs sits Musinsa Beauty’s hallmark in-store pharmacy, which Beauty Onnuri operates beside zones for body care, hair care, men’s grooming and wellness.

Two full-time pharmacists dispense over-the-counter drugs, fill prescriptions from nearby clinics and counsel shoppers on their skin. Shelves sort some 700 products from 110 brands by concern, from acne and melasma to hair loss.

The company points to its own data as proof of concept. Over-the-counter acne and scar gels sold steadily at the Hongdae store’s pharmacy, and in its first 50 days, that flagship took in 2.5 billion won ($1.9 million), with foreign nationals making up about 60 percent of buyers.

"We expect more than half of our customers at the Seongsu flagship to be foreigners," the official predicted, noting that visitors from abroad account for about 70 percent of shoppers at Musinsa Standard next door.

According to company data, over 80 percent of first-time beauty buyers between January and October had already purchased fashion or other categories from the platform.

Musinsa’s pink beauty store now squares off against the green of CJ Olive Young, whose Seongsu flagship, the chain’s largest store in the nation, has become something of a beauty landmark. Olive Young currently operates six locations in the district, to Musinsa's 10.

At stake is Seongsu’s booming foreign spending, which more than doubled in the first nine months of the year, outpacing Seoul’s overall 57.7 percent rise, according to city data.

Foreign visitors now generate about 70 percent of transactions at Musinsa Megastore Seongsu’s beauty zone, while at Olive Young’s Seongsu flagship, the share nears 80 percent.

Even in the lead, Olive Young has been raising its game. In June, it unveiled Beauty Mansion, a four-story store offering skin diagnostics and a beauty device studio. Late last month, it followed with Olive Better Seongsu, the biggest outlet of its wellness spinoff, which marks the company’s expansion from beauty into health.

Yet the turf is crowded with more than two contenders. Korean and international brands, including Medicube, Banila Co, YSL Beauty and Prada Beauty, already line the surrounding blocks with their own stores.

Amorepacific is on the move too. Amore Seongsu, which opened in 2019 inside a converted auto repair shop and won crowds with custom-matched foundation, will reopen on the same street in late January.

Each new arrival swells the crowd but also sharpens the competition, according to industry watchers.

"The cluster of beauty stores should bring in more foot traffic," one industry official said. "Although Olive Young remains the overwhelming force, each new player raises the bar for standing out."