Maker of viral Labubu dolls opening new Union Square store, second in SF

(KRON) — Labubu dolls have taken the internet by storm in the last few months and become a viral fashion trend. However, there is currently only one store in San Francisco that sells them: Pop Mart at Stonestown Galleria.

Good news for Labubu fans: another Pop Mart store is opening in San Francisco, this one in Union Square. The Pop Mart will open at 200 Powell St., a Union Square Alliance spokesperson tells KRON4. According to multiple reports, it will take over the former site of the Skechers store that closed down in 2019.

No official date has been set, but, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Pop Mart will open in the late third quarter of this year.

Pop Mart moving into Union Square adds to the revitalization efforts of a downtown San Francisco that has struggled in recent years. The second Nintendo Store in the country opened in May. Fashion retailer Zara is set to open a flagship store sometime next year.

Even San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie showed his excitement about Pop Mart’s opening in an Instagram video.

The Labubu doll, which first became popular in Asia, has taken the world by storm in recent months. When Pop Mart releases a set of dolls, they are almost always sold out and off store shelves immediately. Some dolls are being resold for hundreds and thousands of dollars in the secondary market.

Celebrities — like Rihanna and LISA from Blackpink — have been known to be fans of the Labubu doll. Their influence has contributed to the explosion in the dolls’ popularity.

Pop Mart opened its first store in 2010 in China and has since opened more than 500 stores in 30+ countries across the globe. It opened its first Bay Area store in 2023 in Santa Clara’s Westfield Valley Fair mall. The other Bay Area store is in Pleasanton.

Pop Mart also sells other action figures and toys from a variety of pop culture characters like Harry Potter, Tom & Jerry and Superman.