As the “AC Pharmacy,” the last retail store owned by Korean-Americans, finally closed its business in February, it seemed that no Korean retail stores survived on Main Street, Flushing. Since Chinese-Americans have taken over the down-town market on Main Street, Korean-American businesses were literally pushed back for a few recent years. However, the situation has been changing this year.
A Korean cosmetic shop called “Beauty-credit,” has become popular since they opened in a mall located on 39th Avenue between Prince Street and College Point Blvd in 2006. More than half of its customers are Chinese. They made a lot of effort to attract Chinese-American customers, even though they are not a well known brand.
The result of their marketing strategy has slowly appeared since they provide free samples of their products. They hired Chinese-Americans as their employee to make the customers feel more comfortable. They advertise in both Korean and Chinese.
The head of their marketing department, Youngmee Kim said, “The low prices and high quality have successfully satisfied Chinese-American customers who always look for practicality.”
As Korean-American businesses now try to come back to the “Main Street Market” with the strategy toward multi-ethnics, there will be a huge marketing competition on Main Street, Flushing.