Running convenience stores becomes popular

Lee Sung-bong, 25, opened a CU convenience store in southwestern Seoul’s Guro District last August, on recommendation from his parents who have been running one for years.

“My parents have been in the convenience store business and they suggested I start my own. I think I developed my skills in picking up popular items that my customers like. Because my store has many new and unique items, young customers including YouTubers and bloggers come here from time to time,” Lee said. He remarked that sales at his store have jumped by more than 30 percent over the last nine months.

Like Lee, a growing number of young people in their 20s and 30s are rushing to open convenience stores for the benefits of having more free time and a higher income compared to office workers. Also, the cost of opening a convenience store is relatively low compared to entering other businesses and the job requires no particular qualifications.

According to BGF Retail, operator of the country’s largest convenience store CU, the portion of new store owners in their 20s increased from 7.4 percent in 2020 to 10.4 percent in 2021 and 16.2 percent in 2022.

In the case of GS25, its portion of young, self-employed owners soared from 12.9 percent in 2020 to 15.8 percent in 2022. 7-Eleven also saw its portion increase to 13 percent from 11.4 percent in the same period. On the other hand, all three firms have been seeing the number of store owners in their 50s and older decrease every year.

“The biggest reason for many young people to jump into the convenience store business is that it costs only 42 million won ($31,777) to open a new store. The starting expense may be different depending on the franchise, but you can say that it costs less than 100 million won at most,” a local convenience store firm official said.

The companies are also welcoming young store owners as they are more in tune with what young customers want compared to older store owners. Store owners place orders for all the products they want to sell at their stores and having a sense of trends makes a difference.

They are also active in promoting their own business online, which helps franchise firms to raise their brand image while attracting young customers.