CU, Malaysia's 1st Store with '100m Queue'... 10,000 Visitors in 10 Days

More than 11,000 local customers visited the CU Centerpoint store, which opened on the 1st of this month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over a period of ten days.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chunhan] CU announced on the 13th that the CU Centrepoint store, which opened on the 1st of this month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has gained tremendous popularity, attracting more than 11,000 local customers over ten days. This amounts to an average of about 1,000 visitors per day, approximately 3.3 times higher than the average number of customers per store in Korean convenience stores.

Considering that CU is operating on reduced hours from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. to comply with COVID-19 prevention guidelines and limiting simultaneous entry to around 30 people, it is expected that the number of customers will increase two to three times once normal operations resume.

Since the opening day, long queues exceeding 100 meters have formed daily in front of CU Malaysia, with customers flocking continuously. Additionally, product and store visit reviews by famous YouTubers and influencers are pouring in on social media. Malaysian media analyze that the popularity of the K-convenience store stems from customers being able to indirectly experience Korean culture and gain vicarious satisfaction through CU amid restrictions on overseas travel.

The top-selling products at CU Malaysia so far are all Korean products. The number one product in sales is tteokbokki, a representative Korean snack menu, with an impressive 2,500 cups sold over ten days. Dakgangjeong (sweet crispy fried chicken), hot dogs, jajang tteokbokki, and odeng (fish cake) also recorded high sales, with Korean-style instant cooked foods accounting for 36% of total sales.

A BGF Retail official said, “The response to CU has been explosive, with customers continuously coming until closing time and media requests for coverage pouring in. As a proud Korean brand, we will promote Korea more on the overseas stage and contribute to the globalization of the domestic convenience store industry based on this growth momentum.”