SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco’s only K-Pop store is blooming in the city’s Sunset District. SarangHello is owned by three close friends and K-Pop fans themselves.
The store, run by Kevin Teng, Chesca Rueda and Pip Reyes, opened as a pop-up in 2020. In three years, the store has grown significantly. SarangHello is now in physical stores at 31st and Taraval.
“Sarang” means love in Korean, and the owners want you to feel the love not only for the customers, but for the Bay Area as well.
Their goal is to be present in the Bay Area and provide a space for K-Pop fans to meet and gather. They did just that. A store and its owners that embody the word “Sarang”.
In a sit-down interview with KRON4, Rueda said: The great thing about K-pop is that it’s very wholesome and fun. ”
“We knew there was a market, but we didn’t expect it to explode like this,” Teng added.
“Well, the amount of love we receive from the community is so surreal,” Rueda said.
“It wakes us up and gives us the strength to work hard,” Teng said.
Well, SarangHello will be celebrating its 4th anniversary in May. The store has received a lot of attention since San Francisco Mayor London Breed posted about it on X, calling it a “success story.”
“Saranharrow has played a major role in spurring the recovery of the Sunset Parkside neighborhood, with an 8% increase in sales tax revenue since the pandemic,” Breed said.
Teng said the store’s revenue has increased 60% every year since opening. Saranhello is currently the largest brick-and-mortar K-pop store in Northern California, the company said on its Instagram.
When asked what contributes to the store’s profits, Teng said, “Increasing collaboration events in the Bay Area and promoting the group’s new comeback, as well as offering limited edition products that are only available at the store. We have prepared everything and have held fan autograph sessions with Mr. K five times.” -Pop artists are in the store. ”
During fan signings, staff will clear the space so fans of K-pop groups can meet their idols.
“Fan autograph sessions are usually held only in Korea, so it means a lot to us. Korean companies recognize that we are the stores they work with. Our name also exists in Korea. has become known,” Teng said.
“It’s a dream come true for us. When we started as K-pop fans, we never imagined that real idols would come to our store,” Rueda said.
Growing up, Rueda and Teng said K-pop was a niche interest and not many people felt comfortable talking about it in public.
“It’s only recently that it’s become more mainstream and people are more open about it,” Teng added. “We all started with Blackpink and his BTS.”
The store started when Rueda went to see a performance by the boy group BTS.
She was so excited to see them, but we all realized there was no place in San Francisco to buy K-Pop albums.
“Honestly, BTS made us open up,” Rueda said.
Their new dreams were put on hold when the coronavirus pandemic hit. The three were finally able to open their first store at the end of 2020, when restrictions began to ease.
It was “in a little closet,” Teng said. “The pop-up was so small that he had to limit the number of people in the store to two at a time.
The new pop-up was in high demand as they collaborated with Bay Area boba shops and established an online presence. For the first few months, he had lines of two to three hours for customers to buy his albums.
“The community wants more and has let us know,” Teng said. “That’s when we started looking for a permanent location.”
Since then, they’ve moved twice and are now in a large space that was once a Benjamin Moore paint shop.
They renovated the building and created their own space on Tarabal Street, drawing on Korean influences such as coffee shops, photo booths, and even Urban Outfitters.
“We wanted to bring a taste of soul to the Bay Area,” Rueda said.
For example, the Life 4 Cuts photo booth brought directly from Korea. At the photo booth, you can take pictures with your friends or even with idols such as BLACKPINK’s Jisoo.
“We wanted to create a safe space for K-pop fans to express their love for groups and idols,” Rueda said.
There are tables inside the store where fans can unbox albums and merchandise they have purchased. “We want to share the joy our customers experience when they open their album for the first time,” Rueda said.
The store sees a large number of customers each day, both new customers and loyal Bay Area fans who have been following SarangHello since its opening.
The store is currently considering how it can continue to grow in San Francisco. New events such as trading photo cards will also be held. On January 27th and 28th, Saran Hello will hold an SM trading card event. This means groups such as Red Velvet, NCT, and EXO will be available for trading.
SarangHello will host three more events in February for groups such as Blackpink, BTS, NewJeans, TWICE, ENHYPEN, TXT, SEVENTEEN, and LE SSERAFIM, who will perform at the Coachella music festival in April.
“K-pop is very event-driven, so that’s what we’re focusing on going into 2024,” Ten said.
To celebrate Lunar New Year, SarangHello will be distributing red envelopes for in-store purchases. The envelopes contain official photo cards of various K-POP groups.
Fun fact about Saranghalo: The store is credited on America’s Billboard and South Korea’s Hanteo Chart.
“This is important because we officially support the artists. We are one of the only K-pop album stores to do this,” Rueda said. “So when you buy from us, you’re helping them win awards and recognition.”
