Seoul Stop offers customers a unique cultural experience, bringing the flavors of South Korea to Baton Rouge.
Seoul Stop is a new Korean convenience store located at 7920 Florida Blvd. in Baton Rouge. As one of the only stores in Louisiana specializing in Korean products, Seoul Stop hopes to foster an authentic Korean convenience store experience for its customers.
“This concept of convenience store is kind of really common back in South Korea,” Minho Kim, the general manager of Seoul Stop, said. “Especially when you think about the convenience stores in South Korea, it’s more like a hangout place. Like, you need a friend, you need a place to sit down. You don’t always have to go to coffee shops or restaurants.”
The store carries a variety of Korean and pan-Asian products, and it also features a deli and a bakery where customers can treat themselves to freshly-made Korean staples like kimbap and onigiri. There is also a seating area where customers can hang out while enjoying their food and a photobooth for customers to commemorate their experience.
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One of Seoul Stop’s most innovative fixtures is its DIY ramyun station where customers can choose from over 100 different flavors of ramyun noodles and make it in store. There are also a number of toppings, including green onions, eggs and cheese, that customers can add to their ramyun bowls.
Seoul Stop is a one-of-a-kind convenience store in Baton Rouge since there are no other shops nearby that specialize in Korean groceries. This lack of access is what inspired Kim and his two co-founders, Daniel Park and Sam Park, to open Seoul Stop in the first place.
“We planned this about a year ago,” Kim said. “We agreed that we don’t have something like this in Baton Rouge and also in surrounding cities. And the most inconvenience that we were having was we don’t have a place to shop Korean groceries nearby. We always had to go to an H Mart in Houston, which is round trip eight hours for driving.”
However, starting this business from scratch was no easy feat. Though the Park’s and Kim both had extensive experience in retail, translating their skill sets to a grocery store setting was difficult. The building also had to undergo some construction to comply with food safety standards, as well as to arrange the store’s layout to optimize customer experience.
Despite the challenges, Seoul Stop has been met with staggering community support and engagement. The store did not do much marketing prior to opening, but the soft opening on March 24 was still packed with customers.
“We really were overwhelmed by the response from the community,” Kim said. “There was a huge crowd.”
Kim is especially grateful for the support from both LSU students and local creators who helped to make the Korean convenience store’s launch a success.
Seoul Stop’s mission to provide customers with an authentic cultural experience drives the team members to work hard and enhance the customer experience however they can.
“The rewarding part was when you see the customers come in and leave happily with a happy face,” Kim said. “That’s the most rewarding part. It’s always been.”
Seoul Stop is open every day from 9 a.m to 8 p.m. More information can be found on Seoul Stop’s Instagram @seoulstopusa.
