Labubu fever set to take over Sydney with Pop Mart expansion

• Chinese toy company Pop Mart is rapidly expanding in Sydney with a multi-level store opening on Pitt Street Mall.
• The expansion echoes the rise of Pop Mart’s famous Labubu dolls, with the collectible becoming gen z’s toy of choice.
• Labubu’s success is due to a number of factors, some which may reveal a darker side of the trend.
• READ MORE: Is Sydney getting a second IMAX theatre?

One of the only Microsoft stores in Australia is no more, with the behemoth tech company’s Pitt Street Mall outlet shutting up shop to make way for a… Pop Mart.

Yes, Pop Mart has hosted a small shop on Pitt Street Mall for a few years now, but a rapid expansion is on the cards and it’s so ambitious that it’s swallowed the world’s biggest tech company. The new, much larger Pop Mart Pitt Street Mall stall will be opening soon.

Niche interests and pop culture stores have lost their financial flavour over the years, especially in Sydney. Even just a year ago you’d be hard-pressed finding a specialist hobby store for pop culture staples like video games, board games and action figures. Now there’s a Pop Mart, the biggest toy company in China, opening a massive multi-level store in the eighth most expensive retail strip on Earth (source: Cushman & Wakefield)

What’s with the rush back to relevancy for pop culture collectibles? That’s simple. I’m not going to be so arrogant as to accuse anyone of living under the rock for having a different social media algorithm to me, but it’s honestly been hard to escape the Labubu trend that has been slowly but surely taking over the hearts and minds of trendsetters, gen z influencers and hobbyists the world over.

Now you’ll see them everywhere. These furry, slightly disconcerting creatures mix Japanese kawaii culture with deeply unserious meme culture. They have those oddly adorable big eyes—an absolute staple for any Japanese character—but then also have some grotesque features, like razor-sharp teeth. I once heard them described as “fentanyl addicts in cute bunny costumes”. Whether that’s part of the appeal or not, I’m not sure, but you’ll see the adorable little gremlins everywhere on public transport; dangling from purses, hanging from keychains, or even hugging their owner’s wrist. A human-sized Labubu recently sold for over US$170,000 (AU$259,395).

What is a Labubu?

Created by artist Kasing Lung, Labubus are just one of several original creations that form part of the Pop Mart universe. What’s that? It’s a series of in-house toys sold by Pop Mart locations around the world, offered in “mystery boxes” so the buyer never knows what variant they’re getting. It could be a rare Labubu; it could be a Labubu that was created in a collaboration with another property (like Marvel), or it could be a garden variety Labubu that only deeply uncool people like.

Mystery boxes, limited editions. These things are copy-paste marketing strategies that sit behind almost every generation’s major toy craze. And they work in a similar way to gambling addictions, presenting a randomised reward system that either boosts or depletes habit-forming neurotransmitters like dopamine. It worked for Pokemon cards, as collector’s chased a hologram Charizard with as much vigour and enthusiasm as a hopeful pokie player thinking “today is the day.” It’s worked very well for Labubu.

Pop Mart has many other IP that are just as primed to become a TikTok trend. There’s Hirono, an angry-looking bear type that’s accompanied by edutainment-geared copy like “the bear inside grows with our fears—but when we face it, it shrinks and becomes our strength. We live for joy.” Pucky the Egg Beanie looks like a hipster version of Japan’s legendary Gudetama. And the scariest of them all, Skullpanda, has been picking up in popularity (as far as Pop Mart’s social media channels go by).

A return to niche

Labubu’s are very much here to stay. They’ve been touted as the smartest alt-investment of 2025, have inspired a series or raves in Brooklyn and Berlin (I’ve never seen anyone rave with a Tamagotchi before!), and have even inspired costumes worn by activists protesting ICE raids in Los Angeles. Even typing these words feels strange and surreal.

Having an unhealthy, dystopian and deeply cynical love of stupid non-biodegradable things is nothing new, but Labubu is the most ubiquitous toy craze to emerge in years, which is especially pointed given how omnipotent TikTok has become as a major marketing machine for both products and ideas.

And so this leads to Pop Mart Sydney, easily the biggest Australian presence for the Chinese company thus far and potentially a sign of things to come. The bad? Well, there’s none really. Let people like things. The good? It could signal a return for more niche in Sydney, which certainly adds to an overall richer and more well-rounded retail scene that appeals to all (they still exist in big cities like New York and Tokyo).

The thing is that all these toys are genius, effective and beautifully designed products for kids, but they are marketed more towards young adults. Those raves in Brooklyn I mentioned above: 21+.

When is Pop Mart Pitt Street Mall opening?

The Pop Mart Sydney opening date has yet to be revealed, but the original, smaller Pitt Street Mall is currently open.

Walk past the Pitt Street Mall space now and you’ll see the brand’s logo with “coming soon” in big lettering. And while Google mistakingly says that the store is already open, we think it could still be days or weeks away. Especially since Pop Mart just opened a huge new store at Melbourne Walk just a few days ago.

Pop Mart opened a Sydney pop-up in Pitt Street Mall in 2022, but it slowly slinked away over the years. This new, seemingly permanent shopfront should be firmly stamping the brand’s resurgence on the city, especially since the brand already has a Sydney presence with smaller stores in Parramatta, Chatswood and Macquarie Centre.

Sydney photo: Destination NSW. Lalubu photos: Pop Mart

Pop Mart Sydney CBD

Where: Pitt Street Mall, Sydney
Opening: Soon

popmart.com.