Line Friends opens Hollywood store to conquer millennial market

Korean company teams with K-pop idols BTS in global expansion push

20190614N fans outside Line Friends Hollywood

Fans hold BT21 characters outside the Los Angeles Line Friends store. © Line Friends

YIFAN YU, Nikkei staff writer

LOS ANGELES -- Line Friends, the South Korean character brand based on messaging app Line, opened its second and largest U.S. store in Hollywood Friday, as it targets American millennials to bolster its worldwide expansion plans.

The app's ubiquitous cartoon characters, created as stickers for Line and its 200 million active users worldwide, have been used in a wide range of different products, from clothing and toys to cafes and theme parks, since they were spun off from Line Corp. as a stand-alone company in 2015. 

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