A mini basketball court with tangerines placed instead of basketballs. The walls are adorned with colorful posters of tangerines.

This unique space, designed around the theme of 'tangerines,' is a pop-up store for the juice brand 'GYULMEDAL.' It opened its doors on January 15th in the Roly Poly Cotto, a complex cultural space located in Gangnam District, Seoul. GYULMEDAL is a local brand that started in Jeju in 2020. It produces and sells juices made from Jeju tangerines and hallabongs.

Recently, local fruit brands from the provinces, like GYULMEDAL, are making their mark in Seoul with sophisticated branding and pop-up stores. The primary consumers flocking to these places are from the Millennials and Generation Z. Previously valued mainly for taste, quality, and price, fruits are now embracing stories and identities, becoming bona fide 'brands' and gaining popularity.

GYULMEDAL was founded by Yang Jae-hyun, who returned to his hometown of Jeju after working as a home shopping MD (merchandise planner) in Seoul. Deciding to focus on branding when his father's farm-grown tangerines did not receive fair value for their quality, he developed a line of freshly squeezed juices. Collaborating with designers and photographers, he crafted a brand image and promoted it on Instagram. GYULMEDAL's Instagram gained word-of-mouth popularity for its unique concept of focusing solely on Jeju tangerines and its sophisticated imagery.

This pop-up store is a testament to the fandom that GYULMEDAL has steadily built up. The site was bustling with people eager to taste the juice and purchase various merchandise, fully immersing themselves in the GYULMEDAL experience. The most popular program at the location allowed visitors to taste a variety of citrus fruits like Jeju tangerines, green tangerines, lemons, and cheonhyehyang, and discover their favorite flavors. This content perfectly targeted the young generation, who value personal taste highly. Indeed, many were surprised by the diversity of flavors and aromas in fruit juices, comparing them to coffee or whiskey.

GYULMEDAL has successfully hosted its fourth pop-up store in Seoul with this event. Last summer, pop-ups were opened at Hyundai Department Store's Mokdong branch and The Hyundai Seoul, where they sold out all prepared products. Last fall, they also opened a pop-up at the Lotte Department Store main branch, targeting the young population in the metropolitan area. An official from Ottogi, which collaborated with GYULMEDAL for this pop-up store, stated, "We decided to open the pop-up because GYULMEDAL is a brand that presents Jeju's specialty, tangerines, in a unique way, providing consumers with a fun experience." They also mentioned, "We will continue to discover and collaborate with attractive local brands."