Labubu, a palm-sized plush toy with sharp teeth and a cult following, has become a toy too popular to sell.
After chaotic scenes of queueing, crowd surges and reported fights, distributor Pop Mart has suspended all in-store sales of the collectible across the United Kingdom.
“Due to the increasing demand for our beloved Labubus, we’ve seen a significant rise in customer turnout on restock days — with long queues forming outside our stores and Roboshops (self-service stores),” the Chinese-based toy company wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday.
“To ensure the safety and comfort of everyone, we will temporarily pause all in-store and roboshop sales of THE MONSTERS plush toys until further notice.” Online sales, however, will continue as usual, it added.
Labubu is the brainchild of Hong Kong-born illustrator Kasing Lung, and it has quietly built a loyal following since its 2015 debut.
But in recent months, the bunny-bodied, elf-faced creature — equal parts grotesque and adorable — has soared in popularity. Stars including Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and Lisa from Blackpink have worn the toys like charms, and they were were even spotted at Paris Fashion Week this year.
The effect is evident in the numbers, as Pop Mart is enjoying meteoric growth both at home in China and overseas.
In 2024, Pop Mart’s revenue outside China skyrocketed 375.2% to 5.07 billion yuan ($700 million). Labubus alone generated 3 billion yuan ($420 million) of the company’s 13.04 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) total revenue last year.
Across TikTok, content featuring Labubus ranges from euphoric unboxings to clips of brawls outside stores. The hashtag “Labubu” now carries more than 1.4 million posts, and on resale platforms such as StockX the plushies are fetching hundreds of dollars, compared with a standard retail price of up to $85.
For some, the frenzy has tipped into absurdity.
“Don’t risk your life for a Labubu,” read the caption on one TikTok video from Victoria Calvert. The video — now viewed more than 100,000 times — captured the escalating chaos at a Pop Mart location in London.
“There’s people in balaclavas running to the front,” she said in the video, warning others to stay away.
Calvert told CNN that she “left pretty quickly” when people “started to shout names to each other and fight.”
“That’s when I realized it was a dangerous situation,” she added.
While some describe such scenes of chaos with a hint of disbelief, others see an upside for Pop Mart in the mayhem.
Sarah Johnson, founder and director of UK-based retail consultancy Flourish Retail, told CNN the suspension of in-store sales may be about more than just crowd control.
“Pop Mart pulling Labubus from UK stores seems like a precautionary move to de-escalate the in-store frenzy and protect both their brand and customers,” she told CNN. “At the same time, this kind of decision keeps the product in the spotlight and adds to the sense of scarcity, which only drives further interest and attention online.”
And nowhere is that more visible than on TikTok, Johnson added, where “a single video showing a long queue, an unboxing or someone finding a ‘rare’ item can go viral in minutes and suddenly everyone wants it.”
In today’s market, she said, “TikTok has essentially become the new high street window — except it’s open 24/7 and has global reach.”
A contestant from the ITV reality show “Love Island” revealed Tuesday that she had ended up “in a fight” with a woman in a shop over the sought-after plushies.
Mal Nicol said she had queued up at a London branch of Pop Mart to bag a Labubu for her 11-year-old cousin’s birthday.
But Nicol, who has two of the toys herself, was left enraged by a customer nearby.
“This b*tch, she bought five, she bought five. It’s actually ridiculous,” Nicol said on TikTok.
“Did I really just get in a fight with someone at Pop Mart? Yes, I did. Yes, I did,” she said.
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