SEOUL — In lots of components of the world, comfort shops are the retailers of final resort: cigarettes, sodas and laundry detergent. However in South Korea, you would possibly discover single malt whiskies, $800 French wines, 24K gold bars, shampoo and conditioner refill stations, televisions or a dine-in immediate noodle bar with greater than 200 styles of ramyon.
A buyer would possibly have the ability to choose up a package deal, wash and dry their garments, or join a brand new debit card.
The shops are finest identified for his or her quite a few feats of “instant-izing” meals, a course of during which almost each conceivable dish is become a packaged meal: spaghetti, Japanese udon, fried rice that you just squeeze out of a tube. These have turned comfort shops right into a $25-billion trade in South Korea and people meals merchandise are churned out at a staggering tempo: as much as 70 new meals objects hit the cabinets every week, successfully providing a reside feed of South Korean tastes.
“In South Korea’s meals retail market, you go extinct in case you’re not fast to vary,” says Chae Da-in, who says her obsession with comfort shops is a long time outdated. “It’s all about being various and quick.”
Identified within the nationwide media and on social media as a “comfort retailer critic,” Chae is the writer of three books on the world of comfort retailer meals, which has led to TV appearances and newspaper interviews.
Each Friday, she excursions a handful of comfort shops close to her residence to maintain up with what’s new. During the last 20 years, she estimates she has consumed no less than 800 styles of comfort retailer samgak gimbap — rice wrapped in dried seaweed and a grab-and-go staple.
Lee Hee Chul, 21, from Incheon, South Korea, cools down his ramyon in a DIY cone constituted of the ramyon bowl cowl at a CU comfort retailer in a well-liked vacationer space in Myeongdong. (Tina Hsu / For The Occasions)
Consumers put together their dinner at one of many self-serve machines within the eating space at a CU ramyon comfort retailer.
Lately, Chae has watched her obsession go international. Very similar to South Korean motion pictures, TV reveals and music, South Korean comfort shops have develop into a cultural sensation.
Particular areas, comparable to the shop that appeared in Netflix’s hit collection “Squid Sport,” have made the information. On TikTok and YouTube, mukbang — movies of individuals consuming — of South Korean comfort retailer meals have gathered hundreds of thousands of views.
“Big cheese sausage,” publicizes one reviewer in a TikTok video collection titled “ONLY Consuming Meals from a Korean Comfort Retailer.” The meal additionally contains blue lemonade that is available in a plastic pouch, a “3XL” spicy tuna mayo samgak gimbap and a carbonara-flavored Buldak (“fireplace rooster”) noodle cup.
South Korean comfort shops are actually increasing into close by international locations comparable to Mongolia or Malaysia. CU, one of many nation’s main operators with greater than 600 shops in Asia, is ready to open its first U.S. location in Hawaii later this yr.
“The share of the Asian inhabitants in Hawaii is six instances that of the mainland U.S., making it a spot the place there’s a excessive stage of familiarity and optimistic attitudes towards Korean tradition,” mentioned Lim Hyung-geun, the pinnacle of abroad operations at BGF Retail, CU’s mum or dad firm.
“On high of that, we’re seeing the sustained reputation of Korean tradition, comparable to a Korean meals growth amongst American youngsters and younger individuals of their 20s and 30s, which we imagine might be a giant increase for CU’s future enlargement.”
Lim calls CU’s abroad areas “‘miniature South Koreas’ the place individuals can expertise the merchandise which have develop into widespread with the Ok-wave.
“However as is the case right here, Ok-convenience shops aren’t only a place to expertise South Korean tradition,” he mentioned. “They’re additionally eating places, cafes and a common amenity.”
In different phrases, all the things shops which can be all over the place and open on a regular basis.
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The GS25 comfort retailer is collaborating with FC Seoul, a South Korean soccer membership, within the Hongdae neighborhood.
Like many issues South Korea has embraced and spun off into one thing novel, comfort shops are an import to the nation. The primary such retailer was American — the Southland Ice Co., which was based in Texas in 1927 and adjusted its identify to 7-Eleven in 1946. The primary of the 7-Elevens opened for enterprise in Seoul within the Nineteen Eighties.
In the present day, South Korea is the comfort retailer capital of the world. Just like the bodegas of New York, they’ve develop into a part of the material of latest city life, multifunctional areas that may be eating places or espresso retailers or bars with microwaves and outside seating. Chae calls them the “oasis of the streets.”
“Folks hand around in comfort shops,” she mentioned. “They’ve develop into a social place.”
A part of what makes them such a power within the nation is their sheer numbers.
There are round 55,000 comfort shops in South Korea — a rustic the scale of Indiana — amounting to at least one comfort retailer for each 940 individuals. In Seoul, the place their numbers have quadrupled within the final 15 years, it typically looks like there’s one on each nook.
A lot of this has to do with the truth that roughly one in each 4 staff in South Korea is self-employed, a excessive quantity relative to different developed international locations. For these on this mom-and-pop economic system, which incorporates older staff pushed into early retirement or others who’ve been boxed out of the normal labor market, comfort shops provide essentially the most accessible type of entrepreneurship.
“In comparison with the a whole lot of 1000’s it could price to open one other enterprise, the primary draw of comfort shops is that you would be able to open one with beginning capital as little as 20 million gained [$14,000],” mentioned Oh Sang-bong, the pinnacle of social coverage analysis on the Korean Labor Institute. “After all it’s not simple. There are a number of cautionary tales. However there are success tales, too.”
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Photographs of the boy band Tomorrow X Collectively enhance the home windows of the Good to CU music library comfort retailer within the Hongdae neighborhood of Seoul.
This profusion has made the comfort retailer enterprise probably the most fast-paced and aggressive within the nation — one which strikes in lockstep with boom-and-bust social media consideration spans.
Hit merchandise generate the type of buzz you would possibly see just for a limited-edition sneaker or the most recent iPhone, necessitating preorders or, when inventories inevitably dry up, resulting in scalping.
However the lows are abrupt. When it was first launched final yr, CU’s “Dubai-style chocolate” — an in-house tackle the worldwide TikTok meals pattern — commanded strains exterior of shops and offered out in a day. 4 months later, gross sales had dropped to a sixth of what they had been.
“The lifespan of merchandise is now extremely quick as a result of social media fads come and go so rapidly,” mentioned Kim, a merchandiser for a number one comfort retailer franchise who requested to be recognized solely by his surname as a result of he isn’t licensed to talk to the media.
“Up to now when the market wasn’t so saturated, income would naturally rise as everybody opened extra shops. However now there are such a lot of shops, and you then’re competing not simply with different comfort shops however with e-commerce platforms, espresso retailers, eating places — everyone who’s following the identical pattern.”
Most of Kim’s job entails scrolling via social media platforms comparable to TikTok, on the lookout for the subsequent hot-ticket merchandise, comparable to a distant meals pattern that reveals indicators of creating landfall.
“It’s brutal. It’s like looking for the attention of a needle again and again,“ he mentioned. “In the event you miss one thing large and a competitor releases it first? Then you definately’re getting chewed out by your boss.”
Kwon Sung-jun is a chef who makes a speciality of Italian delicacies and the winner of “Culinary Class Wars,” a success actuality cooking competitors launched by Netflix final yr. He has a ritual of stopping by a comfort retailer each evening after work — even when he doesn’t have something to purchase.
“It’s very helpful for staying abreast of any traits within the culinary world,” he mentioned, and his routine proved to be pivotal in profitable the $223,000 prize for “Culinary Class Wars.”
In a single stage of the competitors, contestants had been tasked with cooking a dish utilizing substances sourced from a true-to-life duplicate of a comfort retailer on set. Kwon, 30, handily gained with a chestnut tiramisu whipped collectively from chestnuts, milk, espresso and a package deal of biscuits.
“I got here up with the concept in 30 seconds,” he mentioned. “As a result of I had a psychological record of what comfort shops have, I additionally deliberate substitute choices for every of the important thing substances like chestnut, cream and so forth.”
Since profitable the competitors, he has averted comfort shops; simply two weeks after that episode aired, CU launched a mass-produced model of his tiramisu, with Kwon’s face on the packaging.
“It’s somewhat embarrassing to see these images of myself,” he mentioned.
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“Many of the vacationers come on the lookout for merchandise associated to Korean motion pictures or TV reveals like dalgona [a traditional Korean candy] as a result of they noticed it on ‘Squid Sport,’” says Kim Hye-ryeon, the proprietor of a GS25 within the Hongdae district of Seoul.
All of this makes operating a comfort retailer no simple feat, says Kim Hye-ryeon, the 52-year-old proprietor of a GS25 in Seoul’s Hongdae district.
As a result of franchisees are accountable for selecting out their very own stock from the corporate catalog, which is up to date thrice per week, operating a profitable comfort retailer is much less concerning the labor of stocking cabinets and cashing out prospects than maintaining with the frenetic cycle of meals traits.
“Each time there’s a well-liked merchandise, the homeowners who’re a step forward purchase up all of the inventory so typically I can’t get any for my retailer,” she mentioned. “You must know what’s widespread with younger individuals always.”
Lately, as South Korea’s cultural footprint has expanded, the project has gotten much more sophisticated. Streets that had been as soon as quiet are actually widespread thoroughfares for vacationers staying within the guesthouses and Airbnbs which have opened within the space. World tastes have to be accounted for, too.
A buyer heads for the exit at a GS25 comfort retailer.
“There’s been a noticeable enhance for the reason that pandemic,” she mentioned. “Earlier than, it was largely Chinese language or Japanese vacationers, however now it’s from throughout, particularly Individuals and Europeans.”
From behind the counter, she has been retaining psychological notes of what this worldwide shopper base is shopping for, noting, for instance, how her Muslim prospects fastidiously research the labels to test whether or not the merchandise is halal.
“Many of the vacationers come on the lookout for merchandise associated to Korean motion pictures or TV reveals like dalgona [a traditional Korean candy] as a result of they noticed it on ‘Squid Sport,’” she mentioned. “In addition they actually like ice lotions, particularly bingsu [Korean shaved ice].”
