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Fast Retailing’s GU launches first two years and to 49 by 2028, develop- Korean store ing the country into its core market in Fast Retailing Co., which owns Ja- Asia. pan’s fast fashion brand Uniqlo, opened “We wish to go further by launching the first Korean store of its budget brand, our own research and development team GU, on September 14 as the company here in Korea, because we believe that moves to expand the presence of the Korean sports users are one of the most smaller brand in the global market. demanding in the world,” Guy said. Starbucks Korea begins trial The company said 40 “GU advisors,” The market size for sports fashion in use of paper straws will work at the 1,388-square-meter out- is estimated to have tripled Starbucks Coffee Korea Co. has let at Lotte World Mall in eastern from KRW 500 billion in 2009 to KRW announced it has begun a trial run to provide styling services to customers. 1.5 trillion in 2016 and is expected to of paper straws to replace plas- “I am truly glad that our long-cher- surpass the KRW 2 trillion mark this tic ones at its stores as part of the ished dream of opening a store in Korea year, according to industry data. company’s drive to protect the en- has finally come true. We will continue vironment. to strive to put down roots in Korea and CJ CGV Holdings wins The two-month test began at 100 become a brand loved by Korean cus- preliminary approval for IPO stores in Seoul and other major tomers,” Osako Hirofumi, GU Business South Korea’s bourse operator, the cities. The company plans to ex- Director in Korea, said in a statement. , has approved CJ CGV pand the introduction of the paper Launched in 2006, GU has 370 stores Vietnam Holdings Co. in a preliminary straws to all of its stores through- in Japan and 19 outlets in , Hong screening, clearing the way for the cin- out the country in November. Kong and . ema chain based in the Southeast Asian The straws, developed by the country to debut on Seoul’s main ex- coffee chain operator, will be pro- Decathlon opens first Korean change. vided in two colors, white and store CJ CGV Vietnam Holdings could be green, both of which received food ’s sports retailer Decathlon has listed on the stock market as early as safety approval from the United opened its first Korean store near Seoul November, said an official of CJ CGV States and South Korea. The com- amid a growing popularity of sports- Co., South Korea’s largest multiplex pany said it will choose one of the wear products in the country. cinema chain. colors for official adoption follow- The 7,800-square-meter outlet, locat- CJ CGV Vietnam Holdings operates ing the trial period, reflecting cus- ed in Songdo, west of Seoul, opened up the largest multiplex chain in Vietnam tomers’ preferences. along with the company’s Korean on- through its subsidiary CJ CGV Vietnam The company will remove all line mall. Co. Last year, CJ CGV Vietnam Hold- plastic straws and stirrers that con- “Songdo is a sports city. There are ings’ net profit came to KRW 8.3 billion sumers are able to freely take at many parks where we can run, walk and won on a consolidated basis on sales of the stores and instead provide one we have many families living here too. KRW 123.8 billion. straw per ice drink. It said it would It’s exactly what we wanted,” Decath- Currently, the multiplex chain, owned also introduce wooden stirrers to lon Korea CEO Stephane Guy said in a by the food and entertainment conglom- replace plastic ones. press conference at the store. erate CJ, is the world’s fifth-largest cin- The latest decision is part of Decathlon plans to expand the num- ema chain with 3,459 screens around Starbucks Coffee Co.’s broader ber of stores in South Korea to five in the world. move to eliminate single-use plas- tic straws from its 28,000 stores worldwide by 2020. In July, the global coffee giant said it expects the move will eliminate more than 1 billion plastic straws per year from all of its stores. Around 180 million plastic straws are used at the coffee chain in South Korea every year, accord- ing to Starbucks Coffee Korea, the joint venture between Starbucks Coffee International Inc. and South Korean giant Shinsegae.

Sources: www.investkorea.org; Yonhap News Agency 07