Innisfree Next Pandemic Victim Plans On Closing US Stores
Korean brand Innisfree announced this past Friday that all North America starts will start closing citing the pandemic. We got our first Innisfree store here in New York back in 2017 and a few have popped up since. No one panic as the brand will continue to be sold at Sephora.com and I assume they’ll keep their website site open as well.
Amorepacific is having a hell of a time lately with some of it’s K-Beauty brands. Etude House faces the same struggles as Innisfree and began closing stores before the pandemic.
Apparently Amorepacific�s wants to focus more on their digital outlets versus their physical ones as online sales remain very strong.
It’s heartbreaking to see Korean brands doing so poorly. I started this blog on Japanese and Korean makeup and beauty (I even appeared in one of the Etude House’s Newsletters handed out in stores in Korea!) and watched it bloom in the Western market. I remember the struggle of actually finding and purchasing a lot of it online ten plus years ago and within the last five having many different options available right on my own shores.
WWD seems to think the K-Beauty reign has run its course in the Western market but I disagree! I think many brands still have a home in the heart of those that embrace Korean skincare methods and techniques.
Hopefully Innisfree remains easy enough to purchase online going forward.
Will you miss it if it does completely exit the US market?