Chinese designer toy sensation Pop Mart soft-opened their highly anticipated new Union Square store Monday in what was once the flagship Skechers store at Powell and O’Farrell streets, providing another option for people who want more Labubus.
SFist has thus far resisted writing anything about the plush toy culture fad known as Labubus. But today we have no choice but to publish an article about the Labubu doll craze, on news that the retailer best known for selling the Labubu dolls, Chinese designer toy company Pop Mart, has just today soft-opened their Union Square Pop Mart store at 200 Powell Street (at O’Farrell Street).
This is very welcome news for Union Square, as Pop Mart’s arrival fills a space that's been vacant since 2019. The space had been a flagship Union Square Skechers store up until 2017, and then had brief stints as a Brandy Melville and then as the Weinstein Gallery. But for the last six years, the place has just been empty.
And the new Union Square Pop Mart is just a block away from the popular new Nintendo store at Powell and Geary streets. So that’s good momentum for the long-struggling Union Square.
While today’s opening was just a soft opening, the Chronicle reports that “a formal grand opening event is planned soon,” according to Pop Mart.
There is already a Pop Mart retail store at Stonestown Galleria that opened in late July, and apparently to very impressive sales volumes.
Reuters reports that Pop Mart now has just under 40 retail stores in the US. And because of the runaway viral success of these Labubu dolls, Pop Mart’s current stock price gives the company a larger valuation than Barbie manufacturer Mattel, or the Hello Kitty brand Sanrio.
Per the Chronicle, the new Pop Mart store is open daily from 12 to 9 pm, Saturdays from 11 am - 9 pm, and Sundays from 12 pm to 7 pm.
Image: @casey_lau via Twitter
