What: Hyundai Department Store is opening a pop-up store featuring five Korean fashion brands inside Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in Paris, running through 27 October.

Why it is important: By placing Korean brands inside Galeries Lafayette rather than a standalone store, Hyundai is using an established department-store partner's footfall and prestige to de-risk its first entry into Europe, mirroring the host/export logic already seen with its Japan and Taiwan pop-ups.

Hyundai Department Store's K-content export platform, The Hyundai Global, is opening a pop-up on the third floor of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann in Paris, running from 6 to 27 October. The 79 square metre space sits near the escalator entrance, close to Sandro and A.P.C., and features five Korean fashion labels: KIMHĒKIM, RE RHEE, LIE, FRITUR and THE ILMA. The pop-up is run in partnership with the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), with Hyundai handling event planning, logistics and on-site operations while KOCCA supports participating brands and local promotion.

The Hyundai Global launched in Tokyo in 2024 and has since opened pop-ups and flagships in Osaka, Nagoya, Taipei and Taichung. Hyundai says its Omotesando flagship in Tokyo is currently running 30% above its sales target, while earlier pop-ups at Shibuya Parco and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Taiwan achieved the highest sales recorded at those locations. The Paris activation is intended as a springboard into the European market, part of a plan to open around ten The Hyundai Global flagships across Asia, Europe and North America by 2030.

IADS Notes: Hyundai Department Store's push into Paris follows a broader cross-border strategy already visible in Tokyo, where the group opened its first overseas flagship in June 2026, as Time Out reported; that entry's own sourcing already flagged the Handsome subsidiary accelerating European expansion through pop-ups at La Samaritaine and Galeries Lafayette, making the current activation a continuation of that strategy rather than a new initiative. The move also sits alongside Hyundai's digital-side bet on curation over speed, embodied by The Hyundai Hi app, covered by Forbes in September 2026, which builds audience through editorial discovery rather than price competition. On the host side, Galeries Lafayette has built a recurring format of culturally themed pop-ups at its Haussmann flagship, from the Céline Dion activation reported by Fashion United in September 2026 to the Africa Now showcase of African designers documented by Fashion Network in May 2026; the Korean fashion pop-up extends the same playbook of using international and cultural programming to diversify footfall and position the store as a global cultural destination.

Hyundai Department Store brings Korean fashion pop-up to Paris Galeries Lafayette