Musinsa Launches Shopping Hub in Gangnam... Accelerates Offline Expansion [Report]

Musinsa Store Gangnam Opens on August 1
Musinsa's Fourth Offline Select Shop
Distinctive Curation Spaces Including Musinsa Young and Musinsa Girls
"Expanding Offline Select Shops... Mega Store to Open Early Next Year"

"Going forward, Musinsa will drive its efforts into the select shop business. Musinsa Store Gangnam is a prototype that demonstrates the future direction of Musinsa's select shops."

On the morning of the 31st, the 'Musinsa Store Gangnam' first floor 'Musinsa Young' curation space on Gangnam-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by JaeHyun Park

At the pre-opening event held on the morning of July 31 in front of Musinsa Store Gangnam on Gangnam-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul, a Musinsa representative made this statement. Scheduled to open on August 1, Musinsa Store Gangnam is the fourth offline select shop by Musinsa, following 'Seongsu@Daelim Warehouse,' which was launched in September last year.

Previously, in the second half of 2023, Musinsa entered the offline select shop market by consecutively opening Musinsa Store Daegu and Hongdae. The three previously opened stores have established themselves as representative shopping hotspots in each commercial district, attracting a cumulative total of 2 million visitors in just the first half of this year. In fact, Musinsa Store Seongsu@Daelim Warehouse surpassed 3 billion KRW in monthly sales in May alone.

The store visited on this day stood out for its differentiated curation spaces tailored to each target group. Spanning three floors from basement level 1 to the second floor and covering 1,170 square meters, the store houses approximately 130 brands and 6,000 products. Basement level 1 is divided into ▲Musinsa Young and ▲Musinsa Work & Formal spaces; the first floor features ▲Musinsa Young, ▲Musinsa Girls, ▲Musinsa Cap Club, and ▲Musinsa Shoes; the second floor includes ▲Musinsa Girls, ▲Musinsa Young, and ▲Musinsa for Women, with curation further segmented by floor.

'Musinsa Young' brings together casual unisex brands, while 'Musinsa Girls' selects brands for female customers in their teens and twenties. 'Musinsa for Women' features brands for women in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties, and 'Musinsa Work & Formal' offers brands spanning from American casual to office looks.

Throughout the store, curated spaces are highlighted. In addition to mannequins displaying harmoniously arranged products from various brands, there are dedicated areas for 'graphic T-shirts,' which are especially popular among younger generations, and a 'keyring zone' that attracts significant attention from female customers in their teens and twenties. Musinsa explained that the store's layout was designed based on customer data and commercial district analysis accumulated since 2022 through operating the nearby Musinsa Standard Gangnam branch, which is just a two-minute walk away. Each curated space features subtly differentiated logo designs to emphasize the curation.

A space curated for graphic T-shirts on the B1 floor of Musinsa Store Gangnam in the 'Musinsa Young' curation area. Photo by JaeHyun Park

Musinsa Store Gangnam 1st floor 'Musinsa Shoes' curation space. Photo by JaeHyun Park

Another distinguishing feature is the strengthened curation of accessories, such as 'Musinsa Shoes' and 'Musinsa Cap Club.' The Musinsa Shoes area, which brings together popular domestic and international footwear brands, embodies Musinsa's identity, originating from the shoe community 'Mujinjang Sinbal Sajini Maneun Got' (A Place with Many Shoe Photos). A Musinsa representative stated, "To celebrate the opening of the new store, we plan to offer limited sales of highly sought-after sneakers and apparel that have fueled scarcity and resale trends for three days."

Musinsa chose Gangnam as the location for its fourth offline select shop because the area is a major commercial hub with a high influx of foreign tourists and a large floating population in their twenties and thirties. The Musinsa representative explained, "With the global popularity of K-fashion on the rise, our previously opened Hongdae and Seongsu stores in Seoul see foreign customers accounting for about half of total sales," adding, "In addition, Gangnam is also a major office district, attracting many domestic customers as well."

Musinsa plans to actively expand its offline select shop business starting with the opening of the Gangnam branch. The company intends to develop future store operations based on the curation-centric format first introduced at the Gangnam location. After thoroughly gauging customer response at the Gangnam store, Musinsa plans to launch stores specialized by target customer, style, and category, such as 'Musinsa Girls' and 'Musinsa Shoes.' In the first half of next year, Musinsa will open the 'Musinsa Mega Store Seongsu' in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, with a size of 6,600 square meters. This store will be created as a large-scale complex retail space, featuring not only fashion, beauty, and shoes, but also food and beverage (F&B) and sports.

A Musinsa representative emphasized, "Going forward, we will expand 'Musinsa Store' in major commercial districts, presenting an evolved form of select shop that combines our brand curation expertise with online-offline synergy. Through this, we aim to provide online-based domestic designer brands with high growth potential more opportunities to meet customers offline, thereby expanding the market and strengthening our role as a hub for the global expansion of K-fashion."