CU Opens First Malaysian Location

The South Korean chain has begun expanding into other countries.

April 02, 2021

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—CU’s first Malaysian location has opened in Kuala Lumpur, The Korea Herald reports. The store is part of the South Korean chain’s overseas expansion.

The Malaysian store has a footprint of 165-square meters and is tucked inside a shopping mall. “The store opening comes after BGF Retail signed a brand licensing deal with Mynews Holdings, the No. 2 convenience store chain in the Southeast Asian country, in October last year,” according to the Herald.

Sixty percent of the Malaysian store’s products are South Korean, including CU’s popular store-brand and Korean street foods like tteokbokki, a Korean rice cake and red chili pepper sauce snack, and chicken gangjeong, sweet-and-sour fried chicken.

Fifty CU stores are expected to open within 12 months, with more than 500 locations slated to open within five years. Malaysia is CU’s second overseas market. In 2018, BGF Retail launched six locations in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

In October, CU launched a foot delivery program to make short runs. In South Korea, the local market has become more saturated by the top three chains—CU, 7-Eleven and GS25, all of which are looking for new markets outside of the country.

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