SEOUL, South Korea —More than 71,000 coffee shops are now operating nationwide in South Korea, with 14,000 opening last year alone. And their number is still growing.
According to a report by KB Financial Group Management Research Institute, the number of new shops opening has dramatically outpaced the number of shop closures.
In 2009, 27,000 new coffee shops were opened and 4,000 closed in South Korea. On the other hand, 14,000 opened in 2018 and 9,000 closed their businesses.
Meanwhile, 11 percent of local coffee shops were found to be operating in the red. This rate is higher than the 4.8 percent of restaurants that are also unprofitable.
