Olive Young Myeongdong Central Branch — Local services in Seoul

Olive Young is a sensory nightmare, so noisy and clashing music going on (not as nad as Don Quijote in Japan, but getting close. Also because so many people are in the store are from so many different countries there's no set norms for moving through the crowd. (E.g. keep to the left vs right. Keep an eye out so you're not blocking the isle vs do what you want until someone asks you to move). So it's very slow moving around.

It's also very loud, the staff are constantly yelling out a call & recall thing, but you have to be very direct to get their assistance (apart from them offering bags/ baskets). They are friendly and helpful at the counter. The person who served me let me know that a couple of the things I'd picked up had a buy one get one free so I was able to quickly pick up the 2nd ones.

Ultimately there's a lot here. If you're prone to headaches, have a plan, assume that it'll take at least 2x as long & bring ear plugs + have a good translation app at the ready.

Nb tax free kicks in at 15,000 and over + you need to have your...

This is one of the larger Olive Young branches in Seoul. Customer service here is the best and staff are helpful about tax refund and there are self service kiosks where you can get the refund as cash. Bring your passport for the refund.

It gets really crowded here so not that fun to browse, but if you have a short amount of time and a decent idea of what you want. Come here.

Perfume selection is decent, lot of the women’s fragrances are light/floral which may smell too young for some people.

There is a cafe upstairs, they also sell snacks and alcohol in this branch. A lot of popular items on social media were sold out when I went Eg foundation spatula, viral sunscreens.

Small beauty electronics, lamps, wireless speakers, stationery are also sold here. It’s generally cheaper to buy from Olive Young than at the other beauty stores on Myeongdong as there is a mark up. There is a toilet inside the mall where Zara is.

Fairly large selection European brands...

i often come here because the variety of products and fast process of refund, also its less crowded than main store. But yesterday was chaotic, staffs (i think they are managers) were yelling at customers, 1 staff was screaming at me when i took video of the store because she jumped right in front of the camera, she asked me to open my phone and delete the video because her face were showed in a rude demand eventhough i didnt intentionally film her. If you open a shop in a tourist area, you should learn to respect other cultures and deal with incidents more...