For the past decade, a beauty trend from Korea has swept the United States in the form of face creams and other skin care products. The phenomenon, dubbed K-beauty, is moving from social media onto the shelves of national chains — and reshaping commercial real estate.
Olive Young, South Korea’s largest beauty chain, is using the Los Angeles area as a launchpad for national growth, opening this month at Westfield Century City, just a few weeks after it started business at its first U.S. store about 20 miles away, in Pasadena.
The Korean beauty wave, centering on a look of clear and hydrated skin, or "glass skin," is driving demand for products with ingredients made from plants — such as Centella asiatica — and animals, like salmon and snails. K-beauty exports to the U.S. surged roughly 50% year over year in 2025, according to data from the Korea Customs Service.
The chain's “planned expansion is another indication of the continued evolution of the K-beauty market in the U.S.,” Nicole Larson, manager of national retail research at Colliers, told CoStar News. “For years, consumers discovered Korean beauty primarily through retailers like Sephora and Ulta," but now, Korean "brands are responding to sustained consumer interest with greater long-term investment.”
The Korean beauty trend is part of a broader growing fondness in the United States for aspects of South Korean culture in recent decades, driven in part by music and movies. Some breakout moments of K-pop segments spilling into America include the rise of popularity of music groups BTS and Blackpink, the Netflix series "Squid Game" and the Oscar-winning film "Parasite."
Even with the growth in popularity, the segment is still just a relatively small portion of the overall U.S. beauty market. It accounts for about 6% of mass-market beauty sales, according to Circana.
Still, Olive Young and some property professionals are betting that the store’s discovery-driven model, built around letting shoppers explore and sample a broad mix of K-beauty brands in one place, can catch on with American consumers.
Beyond Koreatown
Olive Young, founded in Seoul in 1999, has become South Korea’s dominant beauty retailer, with more than 1,380 stores and annual sales exceeding $4.2 billion. More than half its global digital sales now come from the United States, making America one of the company’s most important growth markets.
Last week, days after the company opened its 2,700-square-foot store at Westfield Century City, demand was evident before shoppers reached the shelves. A security guard controlled entry to the crowded store, admitting new customers only as others exited while a line formed outside.
Olive Young’s first U.S. store opened in Pasadena on May 23, drawing crowds eager to try products they’d only seen online. Shoppers began lining up a day early, with the line stretching four blocks along Colorado Boulevard.
The locations are supported by a new distribution center in the Inland Empire in Bloomington, California, and a dedicated American e-commerce platform as it prepares for broader growth across the country. The warehouse handles customs clearance, warehousing and fulfillment while supporting both the retailer’s own operations and brands that use its distribution network.
Olive Young’s first U.S. lease in Pasadena was notable not only because it marked the company’s American debut, but also because it reflected a deliberate strategy to reach mainstream consumers rather than focus solely on Korean-American shopping districts.
According to real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, which represented Olive Young in securing its first U.S. flagship at 58 W. Colorado Blvd. in Old Pasadena, the retailer relied on customer data from its global e-commerce platform to identify markets where demand already existed outside traditional ethnic enclaves.
The 7,000-square-foot store sits in one of Southern California’s busiest outdoor shopping districts, where historic storefronts attract a mix of tourists, office workers and affluent residents. The location places Olive Young alongside brands such as Lululemon and Alo Yoga while exposing the concept to shoppers who may never have thought of visiting a Korean beauty retailer.
High-end locations
Its second location followed a similar strategic playbook. Westfield Century City has emerged as one of Los Angeles’ premier shopping destinations following a multibillion-dollar redevelopment, attracting luxury brands, high-end restaurants and some of the region’s strongest retail sales volumes.
Olive Young's "innovative approach to K-beauty and immersive retail experience brings a fresh and highly relevant offering to our guests,” Louis Schillace, vice president of center management for Westfield Century City’s southwest region, said in a statement.
The choice of locations mirrors a broader shift underway among Korean brands entering the United States. Rather than first targeting Koreatown-style districts, many are increasingly seeking high-traffic shopping destinations capable of introducing their products to mainstream American consumers.
There's an emerging generation of retailers seeking to build dedicated destinations for K-beauty rather than selling the category through larger chains.
Choc Choc Cosmetics has expanded its Korean beauty footprint in the Chicago area; Besfren Beauty operates stores in Manhattan; Kokosh is growing in malls in the Washington, D.C., area; and Sukoshi Mart has entered California and Texas malls after building a following in Canada.
Last year, Cushman & Wakefield Korea launched a dedicated initiative aimed at helping Korean brands expand overseas. The effort resulted in the brokerage helping brands — including Olive Young, apparel retailer Musinsa and clothing and beauty chain Nonfiction — secure real estate space across the U.S. and Japan.
Los Angeles focus
Los Angeles offered an unusually attractive starting point for Olive Young’s American ambitions. The region combines one of the nation’s largest Korean-American populations with an outsize influence on beauty, wellness and fashion trends while providing direct access to the Inland Empire’s vast logistics network.
Other cities with high concentrations of Korean-American populations include New York, Honolulu, San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago.
NielsenIQ estimates U.S. sales of Korean beauty products reached roughly $2.4 billion over the past year, up 48% year over year, and consumer data firm Circana reported prestige K-beauty brands grew 23% during the first quarter of 2026. Industry researchers have also found that K-beauty products sell roughly three times as fast as the average beauty product on Amazon.
National retail footprints remain relatively limited. While brands including TonyMoly, Nature Republic and The Face Shop have established U.S. stores or wholesale distribution, much of the category’s growth has historically flowed through major retailers rather than dedicated chains.
Olive Young functions less like a beauty brand and more like a marketplace. The retailer carries roughly 400 brands and 5,000 products spanning skin care, cosmetics, wellness and lifestyle categories.
“We see Olive Young not only as a destination for K-beauty, but as a discovery platform that brings together diverse beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands from Korea and beyond,” Olive Young USA CEO Gaeun Kwon said in a statement. “By connecting our physical store and digital platform, we hope to make beauty discovery more accessible, relevant and inspiring for American consumers.”
That experience has become increasingly valuable to landlords seeking younger shoppers more willing to spend not only on Olive Young but in surrounding stores as well. Interactive merchandising, product testing and skin care consultations encourage repeat visits in a product category already benefiting from strong demand from younger consumers.
After all, Colliers found that Gen Z — consumers ages 14 to 29 — account for nearly 40% of beauty sales.