YouTube is going brick-and-mortar in Seoul, South Korea, as the You Are Here Cafe opens up this week in a joint venture between the owners of two prominent Korean YouTube channels, Eatyourkimchi and Talk to Me in Korean.
Eatyourkimchi is a project by two Canadian transplants who document their lives in South Korea and explore places to visit and cultural differences they encounter, while Talk to Me in Korean is an education channel focused on langauge skills. The minds behind the respective channels were looking for a way to bring their YouTube communities to life and continue their missions, and a cafe setting was their ideal result. The cafe incorporates features inspired by both channels, with a classroom for in-person learning and travel tips for visitors new to the area (the cafe is located right off the trian line from the airport).
The cafe officially opens this weekend with a special event in the store for fans of the channels to congregate and kick off their adventures. So far the first video on their new coffee shop channel that provides walking directions to the cafe location has more than 32,000 views, so we don’t expect them to be lacking in customers.
If the Korean version of this YouTube IRL space is a hit, we wouldn’t be surprised if the bigger YouTube names in the U.S. follow the trend. If superstars like Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake found success with restaurant projects, who would say no to a Hannah Hart diner or a Michelle Phan beauty shop?
H/T Tubefilter | Screengrab via Eatyourkimchi/YouTube
