The line on Colorado Boulevard started forming at 3 p.m. the day before anything actually opened. By sunrise, it had grown into something else entirely — four blocks of folding chairs, portable stools, and blankets, with some people having camped on the sidewalk overnight, according to WWD’s on-the-ground report from the opening (Ryma Chikhoune, June 2, 2026). By the time the doors opened, the queue stretched roughly a quarter mile.
What they were all waiting for was Olive Young — South Korea’s biggest health-and-beauty retailer, with more than 1,380 stores back home and about $4.2 billion in 2025 domestic sales, per WWD — opening its first-ever U.S. location: an 8,647-square-foot store at 58 West Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.
Samantha Sakti, a 25-year-old Pasadena resident and former UCLA gymnast, showed up around 1:45 p.m. on opening day and ended up at the back of the line. While grabbing a drink nearby, she ran into a stranger hauling a tote bag stuffed with products. “I asked her, ‘How long was the line? Is it worth it?'” Sakti told WWD. “And she said, ‘100 percent.'” The woman had arrived at 2 a.m. and was among the first 200 people through the doors — staff had been handing out water, cupcakes, and cookies to the overnight crowd, she said, showing off Mediheal sheet masks, Korean snacks, and a beauty device she’d picked up. That was all it took. Sakti, who manages eczema and sensitive skin, said she’d been drawn to Korean skincare for its gentler formulas: “It’s safe for your skin because it’s not too strong. Not too harsh.”
Alnar Marcaida drove about 40 minutes from Long Beach and arrived at 9 a.m., spending nearly four hours in line before getting inside, per WWD. He went straight for products he’d had trouble finding stateside: Beplain’s Mung Bean cleansing foam, Rejuran’s Turnover Mask, and a Hair Plus protein treatment he discovered on a trip to Korea and had been missing ever since. “When I first got it, I ran out,” he said of the hair product. “When this store opened up, I was really excited to see that they had it.”
By the time Liz Navar, a 26-year-old property manager and part-time makeup artist from Culver City, made it through checkout — after roughly four to five hours outside and another 45 minutes in the payment line — her total came to about $500 after a discount, she told WWD, laughing about being “a crazy skin care person.” Across the weekend, roughly 6,000 people visited the Pasadena flagship, according to figures Olive Young gave WWD, with skincare, sun care, sheet masks, and cleansers making up more than 60% of opening-day sales.
None of this happened by accident. Olive Young told WWD it’s treating Pasadena as the opening move in a much bigger plan — at least five more California stores by the first half of 2027, with a second Los Angeles-area location at Westfield Century City already set to open. If you’re tracking where to actually go try this stuff in person rather than order it online, California is about to stop being the exception and start being the rule: the closest thing to browsing an Olive Young in Seoul, without the flight.
Sources: Ryma Chikhoune, “Olive Young’s U.S. Debut Draws Overnight Line and a Weekend Crowd of 6,000,” WWD, June 2, 2026.
