SEOUL, KOREA - Nongshim Co. said on March 20 that it opened a "Coco Ichibanya" location in Gwangbok-dong area in Busan. This is the first curry specialty chain store in Korea's second-largest city by the company. The 128-square-meter, 64-seat store will be run directly by the company.

 

 

A Nongshim official said, "In order to expand aggressively in the south, we established a separate logistic warehouse and regional sales force. Based on our experience we have accumulated so far, we want to lead the market in Busan as well."

 

Opening the first curry store in 1978 in Japan, Coco Ichibanya has 1,370 locations in the United States, China, and Taiwan, as well as in Japan. It opened the first Korean store in 2008 in Seoul's Gangnam. Currently it runs 20 locations across the Seoul metropolitan area.

 

Gwangbok-dong in which the Coco Ichibanya store is located is one of the busiest commercial districts in Busan together with Nampo-dong, with hundreds of shopping establishments and restaurants. This is also the venue for the Busan International Film Festival.