(PRESSREELS) SM Entertainment will open a store in Vietnam that sells food and beverage with its singer goods for the first time overseas.
Vietnam’s online media VN Express reported on the 7th that SM Entertainment opened the SM Town outlet in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from the 3rd and held a K-pop fan invitation event. The official opening will take place sometime between July and September.
It consists of “SM Town & Store,” which sells goods such as albums and posters of SM artists, and “SM Town & Cafe,” which sells coffee and dessert.
Although SM is selling goods and food and beverages together at the SM Town COEX Artium in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, it is known that Vietnam is the first country to introduce such a type of store overseas.
“The Korean Wave started in Vietnam and some other Asian countries in the 2000s and has expanded its scope significantly since then,” VN Express said, adding that 51 percent of Vietnamese like Korean pop music.
According to the “Vietnam content industry trends” released by the Korea Creative Content Agency in December last year, K-pop seems to be very popular there.
Vietnam’s major music sites are divided into three categories: Vietnamese domestic pop, K-pop and Western pop. K-pop is ranked at the top of the overall music charts.
The report also pointed out, “It is characterized by a wide fan base of not only mainstream Korean music but also non-mainstreamers,” adding, “Korean singers’ concerts in Vietnam are frequently held, and there are various types of concerts.”
