Business
Korean wig Shop Owners Feel Pinch of Globalization
ATLANTA
—
For
decades, South Korean
immigrants have dominated
the U. S. wig industry — a
niche they carved out in part
by winning over the African
American market. Not only
was competition relatively
scarce, but their ties to tex-
professor in anthropology at
Seoul National University.
“Initially, Korean immi-
grants relied on imported
supplies but later they com-
pletely monopolized the
wig industry, from produc-
tion,
transportation,
wholesale and retail.”
Some 8,500 Korean-
owned beauty supply stores
in the U.S. do an estimated
$200 million in business
annually, according to the
Korean Beauty Supply
er. As a result, many Korean
beauty supply stores that
were once thriving are now
struggling to survive.
“Customers began to look
for lower cost beauty sup-
plies,” says Il Hong Kim,
head of the Korean Beauty
Supply Association in
Atlanta, where nearly all of
the 700 or so beauty supply
stores are Korean-owned.
A Korean owner of a
beauty supply store in Santa
Monica, Calif., who spoke
Wig shop owners are taking steps to strengthen
their ties with their traditional African American
customer base
tile manufacturers in South
Korea put them in a unique
position to fill a void in
beauty supplies targeting
African Americans.
“South Korea’s textile
industry helped produce
wigs that pushed into the
American market,” notes
Kwang Gyu Lee, emeritus
Association. More than 70
percent of their customers
are African American.
But these ties have begun
to unravel as Korean wig
shop owners feel the pinch
of globalization. As labor
costs spiked in South Korea,
wig production moved to
China where labor is cheap-
on condition her name not
be used, concurred. “Even
though I started my business
in the recession, I didn’t
have problems,” she says.
“But nowadays, the wig
business is getting more
globalized, with Chinese
people embarking on the
business, so our sales are
PHOTO COURTESY OF YOKNYAMDABALE
By Jong Won Lee
Special to the NNPA
from Korea Daily
Via New America
Media
Some 8,500 Korean-owned beauty supply stores in the u.S. do an estimated
$200 million in business annually, according to the Korean Beauty Supply
Association. More than 70 percent of their customers are African American.
dropping.”
Kim adds that small busi-
nesses, like his Korean
Development Highlights
Portland’s Black History
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner
News
PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS
Development High-
lights
Portland’s
Black History
By Helen Silvis Of
The Skanner News
A corner lot on
Northeast
Martin
Luther King Boule-
vard at Shaver St. is
on track to become a
soul food cart court
and an education cen-
ter where youth can
learn about Black
History.
The site is the for-
mer home of The
Burger Barn, which
hit the headlines in Teressa Raiford and her uncle Andre Raiford are pictured here with Josh
1981 when Portland Cabot, project manager and Geoff Grummon, architect, from livermore
police officers tossed Architecture and Engineering Inc. Andre Raiford owns the site of the former
dead possums into the Burger Barn at 3962 NE Martin luther King, Jr. Blvd, which is now slated to be
restaurant’s doorway, preserved as a community resource center and soul food court. African
sparking outrage and Americans have lived and worked at this address since at least 1906.
protests in the Black community. Two officers were fired me the pictures from the past it moved my spirit,”
after they admitted to tossing four dead possums into the Raiford said. “I could sell out, live large and go to
doorway. Police then demonstrated against the firings. Hawaii for a few years, but I’m ready to retire. I’m done.
Later the restaurant became Christopher’s Bar and Grill. So if the youth want to come up and do something for
the community I am all for that. I’m just moving aside
and letting the youngsters take over.”
Teressa Raiford says the building is set to be renovated
and renamed the Community Unity Resource Building.
Under the guidance of Maija Anderson, head of historic
collections and archives at OHSU, the building will
house an archive of the site project as an example of his-
toric preservation.
Teressa Raiford says students will be invited to explore
Andre Raiford, who has owned the site since 1969, documents and photos that show how historic preserva-
said he considered tearing down the building and selling tion helps tell the story of Portland’s African American
the lot. But he changed his mind after his niece Teressa community. The site will showcase the wide variety of
Raiford showed him photos and other evidence of the careers involved in a single project.
“We’d like to bring in experts to talk to students about
site’s historic importance to Portland’s African American
community.
“When she talked about the community and showed
‘When she talked about the
community and showed me
the pictures from the past it
moved my spirit’
See DEVELOPMENT on page 14
beauty supply shop, are also
feeling the effects of a
tighter credit market.
“It’s getting difficult for
new business owners to
secure loans from banks,”
he says, stressing that lan-
guage presents an obstacle.
“Koreans who want to start
a business usually… get a
loan from a Korean commu-
nity bank, because it’s
easier to communicate with
staff there.”
Sang Wook Chung, owner
of G’s Beauty Supply in
Jonesboro, Ga., wanted to
apply for a loan from a U.S.
bank as his customer base
was growing but says that
dealing with American
bankers was “very challeng-
ing.”
“They could not under-
stand me,” Chung says. “I
wish there was a Korean-
speaking banker who can
assist us and know about
our business concerns.”
Undeterred, he went to a
Korean community bank in
his town. Although the
interest was relatively high-
er compared to other
American banks, and the
amount of the loan he could
get was smaller, the process
was a lot easier.
“I had less paperwork
because I didn’t have to
show documents I would
have had to get from South
Korea,” he says. “And of
course, there was no lan-
guage barrier.”
An added challenge for
Korean wig shop owners
has been a recent spike in
thefts of pricey wigs at their
stores. Typically these thefts
— dubbed “smash thefts”
— involve a driver and
other passengers who break
into a shop and steal thou-
sands
of
dollars
in
merchandise, leaving the
shop owners almost bank-
rupt. Hair extensions made
from human hair, for exam-
ple, produced by companies
like Remy Hair just outside
Atlanta, can sell for up to
$1,000.
After Hurricane Sandy hit
New York in 2012, local
Korean media reported
smash thefts in Korean
shops. Shop owners began
putting serial numbers on
expensive hair products and
working with county police
to track stolen items. Some
began offering rewards for
return of their merchandise.
At the same time, wig
shop owners are taking
steps to strengthen their ties
with
their
traditional
African American customer
base.
The Korean Ethical
Forum, a charitable organi-
zation that works to benefit
Korean
communities
around the world, recently
donated $50,000 to the
Trumpet Awards Founda-
tion, an African American
advocacy group in Atlanta.
The funds will be used to
produce a documentary to
promote African American
student achievement in U.S.
public schools, says Man Yo
Han, head of the Forum.
“A colleague in the beauty
supply business told me that
back in the 1970s and 80s,
wigs displayed in depart-
ment stores catered mostly
to white customers,” says
Kim of the Korean Beauty
Supply Association here.
“Because of that, many
African Americans began
coming to Korean beauty
supply shops. I’m proud to
think that the Korean com-
munity was there to help.”
Jong Won Lee is the man-
aging editor of Korea Daily
in Atlanta.
This story was supported
through a New America
Media/Wells Fargo small
business reporting fellow-
ship.
October 8, 2014 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 13