Beautiful Store

The Beautiful Store is a charity with a sustainable commercial activity in South Korea founded with the mission of creating a more sustainable and beautiful community through promoting recycling and sharing. It was started on the belief that no one can live alone and everyone is connected and depend on each other, the Beautiful Store is unique among Korean organizations as a social enterprise that utilizes all of its profit for charity and public benefit. The Beautiful Store is a project of The Beautiful Foundation, the foundation seeks to encourage a philanthropic culture in Korea and beyond, they hope to promote communities philanthropic nature by encouraging sharing and recycling in the communities. 

The Beautiful Store facilitates sharing by providing a framework for individuals to donate items they no longer use to others who need them. Marketing materials and ongoing promotion campaigns are used to educate the public on how to donate items they longer use. 'One person's waste may be of great value to others. The Beautiful Store brings people together in an innovative and personal way. By donating what you do not need, you can give new life to used items which can come in handy to others. We believe that sharing is one of the most precious things in life.

Since the first Beautiful Store opened in October 2001 the business has experienced rapid growth. There are now more than 110 charity shops, Mobile beautiful stores, weekly flea market and fair trade activities throughout Korea. Beautiful Store employs more than 56 disadvantaged persons as staff, they are recommended through a special jobs search from the Ministry of Labor. The business also utilizes more than 5,000 volunteers and strong partnerships with local Korean enterprises. The store receives upwards of more than 800 million units of donations and generates greater than US$23 million in sales in 2009 which is significant given that the Korean culture is relative new to recycling for charitable causes. The Beautiful Store handles household as well as office items which include clothes, equipment and other miscellaneous items. After items are donated, the Beautiful Store cleans and repairs the pieces as much as they can. The recycled items are sold back to members of the community at a low price, the low price ensures these items will be bought by people who value it and reduce the need for new manufacturing.

The Beautiful Store not only encourages the donation and recycling of secondhand goods, but also advocates using reusable shopping baskets and handmade, chemical-free detergents in customers’ everyday lives. They conduct a series of promotional campaigns to teach residents about the effects of plastic and chemical waste on the environment. The Beautiful Store also has contributed back to the community via building an open space for disadvantaged community members to connect with one another, as well as a cultural space for local residents. The Beautiful Store initiated a nation wide donation project "Beautiful World Project" with Oxfam at their stores to encourage Korean citizens to donate and support villagers in Nepal, Bangladesh and India. The villages that they support in these developing countries are massively affected by floods, public donations generated through this campaign are used towards constructing new housing, sanitation facilities, building of renewable energy sources and providing education.