Beyond Olive Young: Musinsa Beauty Hongdae and Daiso’s New K-Beauty Stores

Olive Young is no longer the only place K-beauty shoppers go. The fashion platform Musinsa opened a four-floor beauty store in Hongdae with about 600 brands and a pharmacy in the basement, and Daiso opened a small store near Konkuk University where about 80 percent of the stock is beauty and every item costs under 5,000 won. The Korea Herald’s Sept 14 report says shoppers want to test products in person and are chasing ingredients such as PDRN and tranexamic acid.

Musinsa Beauty Hongdae

Musinsa, known as a fashion retailer, opened its first physical beauty store in Hongdae, Seoul, on a Friday shortly before the Korea Herald’s Sept 14 report. The store has four floors devoted to beauty, with roughly 600 skincare, makeup and health brands. The company picked Hongdae because of its many international visitors and young beauty shoppers, especially women in their 20s and 30s.

The basement houses Beauty Onnuri Pharmacy, a K-beauty concept run by the Onnuri Pharmacy franchise. It offers one-on-one pharmacist consultations, including multilingual service for international visitors, and carries brands such as Rovectin, S.Nature and LBB.

The store follows a result at Musinsa’s Seongsu Mega Store, where the beauty zone on the second floor saw sales rise 20 percent in August compared with April. About 500 beauty brands on Musinsa’s online platform saw a 35 percent sales increase in the three weeks after the Seongsu zone opened, which the report reads as a sign that offline exposure helped online sales.

Daiso near Konkuk University

Daiso opened a 66.12 square meter store near Konkuk University in August 2026. About 80 percent of its merchandise is beauty products, and every item in Daiso stores is priced under 5,000 won, about $3.70. The company chose the location because it draws university students, office workers, young consumers and foreign tourists with varied demand, from skincare and cosmetics to supplements, hair care, perfume and accessories.

Daiso’s beauty-category sales rose about 30 percent from a year earlier in January through August 2026, according to the Herald. Mommy Care’s Sea Grape Skin Pack and VT Cosmetics’ Reedle Shots have repeatedly sold out after going viral online.

Why foreign shoppers use these chains

A Korea Times report from June 2025, using data compiled by Hana Card, compared 2023 with 2024. Foreign customers at Musinsa rose 348 percent and their spending rose 343 percent. At Olive Young the figures were 77 percent and 106 percent, and at Daiso 46 percent and 49 percent. Duty-free stores nationwide, shown for comparison, rose 30 percent in customers and 40 percent in spending.

Hana Card says these chains are taking over a shopping role that duty-free stores once held. The Korea Times adds that the chains offer tax refunds to foreign customers only in limited cases, such as a minimum single-payment purchase or shopping at selected stores, so the refund terms are worth asking about at the register.

The ingredients driving demand

The Herald’s Sept 14 report says demand is growing for skincare formulated for specific concerns and containing sought-after ingredients, notably polydeoxyribonucleotide, known as PDRN, and tranexamic acid. Retailers are expanding beauty into fashion platforms such as Musinsa, pharmacies such as Beauty Onnuri Pharmacy and discount stores such as Daiso, and shoppers value affordability and perceived quality, especially at discount retailers.

Pharmacy-rooted brands in the mix

The Korea JoongAng Daily’s Sept 9 report describes drugmakers moving into skincare. Dongkook Pharmaceutical’s Centellian24, launched in 2015, helped cosmetics and health supplement sales reach 208 billion won ($155 million) in the first half of 2026, 40.8 percent of the company’s total product sales. Dong-A Pharmaceutical’s Fation, launched in 2019, rolled out to 55 Sephora stores in the United States in August.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s Easydew began in 2006 as a dermacosmetics brand for hospitals and clinics, and its sales from January to July 2025 topped 100 billion won. Dongwha Pharm revamped its Fusidyne line in July 2026 and added Fusidyne 8 Barrier, a product focused on skin barrier care. Yuhan launched The I Yu in May after setting up a cosmetics marketing subsidiary.

A shopping plan beyond one store

1. Start with a concern, such as dark spots or a weak skin barrier, and look for the ingredients the Herald names: PDRN and tranexamic acid.
2. Visit Musinsa Beauty Hongdae if you want to compare many brands, and use the basement pharmacy’s multilingual one-on-one consultation if you want a pharmacist’s opinion.
3. Use Daiso near Konkuk University for low-priced items, remembering that every item is under 5,000 won.
4. Ask about tax refund terms before paying, since the chains offer refunds to foreign customers only in limited cases.

• Skin concern and ingredient noted before shopping
• Musinsa Beauty Hongdae and its basement pharmacy on the route
• Daiso Konkuk store added for low-priced items
• Tax refund terms checked at the register

Frequently asked questions