CJ chairman bolsters US presence with Olive Young, CheilJedang

CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun signs his autograph while visiting CJ Olive Young's Pasadena store in Calif., Friday. Courtesy of CJ Group

CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun visited the group's key outposts in the United States, as the conglomerate ramps up efforts to expand its global footprint through CJ CheilJedang and Olive Young.

Lee visited Olive Young Pasadena in California on Friday (local time) to mark the store's opening, CJ Group said Sunday. It was the Korean beauty retailer brand’s first offline store outside the country.

CJ Corp. CEO Kim Hong-ki, CJ Olive Young CEO Lee Sun-jung and Head of CJ Future Strategy Group Lee Sun-ho, who is the chairman's eldest son, joined the visit.

Having established itself as a go-to spot for tourists in Korea, the store drew a long line during its opening day and attracted local media coverage.

“This is our first step into the U.S., the world's largest market, and a great beginning for our journey to the rest of the world,” the CJ Group chairman said. “Beyond K-beauty and K-wellness, we must spread a healthy and stylish lifestyle culture into the daily lives of American customers.”

He said Olive Young should be a portal for global trades for small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in the K-beauty industry. Out of 5,000 product types under 400 brands at the Pasadena store, most of them were made by SMEs.

Ahead of his Pasadena store visit, Lee toured the headquarters of frozen food company Schwan’s in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is CJ CheilJedang’s American subsidiary. It was his first visit since the Korean firm took over Schwan’s in 2019.

Lee began his U.S. trip by visiting PGA golf tournament, The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, in McKinney, Texas, which ran from May 21-24.

CJ Group said Lee will stay in the U.S. until early June, meeting representatives of local media contents companies and measuring the group’s future competitiveness in the contents industry. The group currently aims expanding theater experience projects SCREENX and 4DX under its subsidiary CJ 4DPLEX.