The massive line that snaked through the Stonestown Galleria and extended outside Saturday morning felt like a blast from the past. Was a celebrity signing autographs? Did an exclusive pair of Jordans just drop? Are people just that excited about the new iPhone?
The answer — about which plenty of onlookers were also curious — was none of the above. On a gray, drizzly morning, the bleary-eyed shoppers were eagerly awaiting the grand opening of San Francisco’s first Pop Mart, an Asian retail darling that specializes in detailed figurines of cutesy cartoon characters.
The figures sold by the Beijing-based company come in “blind boxes’” that conceal the exact design of the collectibles until opened. That means customers, who spend anywhere from $16 to more than $1,000 per box, don’t know precisely what they’re buying until they’ve completed the purchase. In effect, this gamifies the whole shopping experience.
It’s a bizarre sight to behold such fervor in an age when traditional retail is at an existential crossroads. Big-box department stores like Macy’s and Nordstrom are reeling, leaving San Francisco’s premier downtown mall and shopping district shells of themselves. Even luxury brands like Louis Vuitton are bracing for a downturn in sales.
In the face of this downfall, Pop Mart continues its meteoric rise. The toy company launched its first permanent U.S. location less than a year ago and has been on an expansion tear, with the Stonestown store capping off a run that included locations in Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle and New York.
In 2023, the publicly traded company brought in $871 million in global sales, up 37% from approximately $635 million the previous year.
At Stonestown, dozens of Pop Mart superfans had started by camping out Friday night — some by 9 p.m. — parking themselves outside the mall entrance so they could be the first ones through the doors to nab limited edition figurines. Many had come from out of town.
“I’ve never even been to this mall before,” said San Jose resident Daniel Nguyen, who joined the line outside Stonestown at 2:30 a.m. “But it’s the only place selling the exact item that I want.”
Making the artist the star
Nguyen ended up spending more than $600 at Pop Mart when he was able to enter more than eight hours later. The figurines he purchased, including the “Garfield Future Fantasy” series, will be displayed in his room at home, he said.
To his dismay, the last three of the limited edition “Panda Molly” designs he was seeking were snapped up by the woman in front of him. He tried unsuccessfully to buy one from her for double the price.
“The resale market on these toys is crazy,” said Varin Wongvanich, manager of the Stonestown Pop Mart. “Overseas, a couple of resales could cover your income for a few months.”
Wongvanich, a native of Thailand, spent most of her career working for the G-III Apparel Group, which sells licensed brands such as Calvin Klein and DKNY, before making the switch to toys. She explained that unlike other fads she has witnessed in the industry, Pop Mart customers are loyal to the company’s star designers rather than the brand.
In her home country, the popularity of Pop Mart exploded when Thai star Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink posted a photo of herself holding a massive plush doll from the company’s “Fall in the Wild” series.
From Hello Kitty to Beanie Babies to Build-a-Bear, adorable-ness has been a commodity in toys and collectibles for decades. But a perfect storm in China during the last decade has propelled Pop Mart into a different stratosphere.
The company was founded in 2010 as a variety store by entrepreneur Wang Ning. Before it became known for its original line of toys, Pop Mart sold other popular collectibles, such as the Japanese-made Sonny Angels — tiny, naked babies that also came in blind boxes.
In 2015, Pop Mart began surveying customers on what characters they wanted to see next, and an overwhelming response was a blue-eyed “Molly” character designed by Hong Kong celebrity artist Kenny Wong, according to Larry Lu, head of Pop Mart North America. One year later, the company signed Wong to an exclusive deal to produce his designs.
Since then, Pop Mart has continued to pursue a strategy of locking down rising artists. The company also has licensing agreements with major brands and characters such as DC Comics, SpongeBob SquarePants and Harry Potter, but those sales are dwarfed by its original artist designs, according to its published financials.
Each Friday, Pop Mart’s Stonestown location will roll out a limited batch of new releases, anticipating similar lines out the door.
‘It just reminds me of my childhood’
Lu said Pop Mart chose Stonestown as its San Francisco beachhead because the Chinese firm had a good relationship with mall owners Brookfield Properties. It helped that Ton Mak, the artist behind one of its signature series, “The Flabjacks,” is based in the city.
“U.S. retailers just aren’t as fresh anymore,” said Kazuko Morgan, a San Francisco broker with real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. “The world has gotten smaller because of social media and the internet, so these [Asian retailers] are becoming much more mainstream.”
Morgan, who recently facilitated Nintendo’s lease in Union Square, said U.S. landlords “used to have no clue” when it came to Asian retailers but are now finding that many brands, such as H-Mart and Uniqlo, are well-positioned to expand in the country after largely tapping out their growth in Asia.
Before it opened physical storefronts, Pop Mart tested the U.S. market by opening vending machines called “Robo Shops” at malls across the country, including Stonestown.
“This gave us the confidence that a new store would be well received in the location,” Lu said.
Aminta Vasquez and Anastasia Richter, who both work at the Serramonte Center in Daly City, stood in line for more than four hours Saturday to try to get their hands on new “Hirono” figurines.
The pair had not heard of Pop Mart until their favorite Hong Kong and K-pop rapper, Jackson Wang, collaborated with the company on a line of toys modeled after himself.
The mystery of the “blind box” transaction doesn’t faze her, said Vasquez. If anything, it adds to the thrill of the purchase.
“It just reminds me of my childhood,” Vasquez said. “It reminds me of a point where my life was good, before I became an adult and had responsibilities.”