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| ▲ This image of the outside view of CJ Olive Young's largest regional specialty store in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, launched on Oct. 16, 2026, is provided by CJ Olive Young. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE)(Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Oct. 19 (Yonhap) -- CJ Olive Young said Monday it opened its largest regional specialty store in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, as part of efforts to offer visitors a distinctive K-beauty experience.
The retailer said it opened "Olive Young Gyeongju Silla" on Oct. 16.
Located across from Gyeongju Express Bus Terminal, the two-story store has a sales area of about 135 pyeong, making it the largest Olive Young store in Gyeongju. Its exterior is designed in the traditional Korean architectural style to blend in with the surrounding streets, while its interior incorporates motifs inspired by Silla artifacts to enhance the city's distinctive atmosphere.
Gyeongju is evolving from a tourist destination where visitors mainly toured historic sites and left to a place where travelers stay longer to enjoy cafes, restaurants and nighttime scenery around Hwangnidan-gil and Bomun Tourist Complex.
In line with the trend, Gyeongju Silla has been designed as a healing space that conveys a sense of relaxation and rest. Rather than increasing the number of display fixtures, the store has benches and terraces on and around its first and second floors to provide ample resting areas. The first floor features a tea-scent sampling zone where customers can smell and purchase tea, as well as a guestbook where they can freely write down their worries. At the "Gua Sha Island," customers can try various gua sha products and gently relax their bodies after a tiring trip.
The store also offers self-service beauty devices to allow visitors from Korea and abroad to experience K-beauty. Three Skin Scan services -- Face, Scalp and Color Fit, which analyzes personal color -- enable customers to check their skin condition and other characteristics themselves.
The store has also added attractions that evoke the atmosphere of Gyeongju. Works reinterpreting Silla clay figurines in Olive Young's own style have been placed throughout the store, creating an exhibition-like atmosphere. The first-floor goods zone offers Olive Young merchandise as well as K-goods available exclusively at the Gyeongju Silla store, including key rings and magnets featuring Gyeongju cultural heritage sites such as Seokguram Grotto and Cheomseongdae.
Olive Young has been actively investing in areas outside the Seoul metropolitan area this year and steadily opening stores that reflect the unique culture and characteristics of each region. The aim is to turn its stores into tourism content that can be enjoyed only in each particular area, rather than simply spaces for selling products.
In Gyeongju, the retailer opened the traditional Korean-style "Gyeongju Hwangnam" store in Hwangnidan-gil in 2024 and has now added Gyeongju Silla, establishing a network of specialty stores spanning Hwangnidan-gil and the area around the express bus terminal. Through the network, Olive Young plans to encourage tourists to naturally explore various parts of downtown Gyeongju.
"Olive Young Gyeongju Silla was designed so that domestic and international travelers can enjoy a leisurely experience while taking in K-beauty with all five senses amid Gyeongju's unique atmosphere, where history and modernity coexist," an Olive Young official said. "We will continue to enhance the spatial experience so that K-beauty can be embraced as attractive tourism content, while steadily expanding stores that incorporate the characteristics of each region and growing together with local communities."
jwc@yna.co.kr
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