Labubu and Pop Mart’s ROBO SHOP arrive in Belfast for first time

Belfast finally got a local POP MART access point, with The Entertainer bringing a ROBO SHOP to its Castle Court store on Royal Avenue, Unit 60, BT1 1DD. For Labubu buyers who had been relying on online drops, imports or resale listings, that is the practical change: the city now has a place to walk in and buy blind-box figures in person instead of hunting stock across the UK.

The ROBO SHOP format is built around the same uncertainty that made Labubu take off in the first place. The machines are automated vending units stocked with Pop Mart blind-box figures, including Labubu, Molly, Hirono and SKULLPANDA, so the surprise pull stays intact even as the buying experience moves off a screen and into a store. That matters in Belfast because the new setup does not kill the chase, it just moves it closer to home.

Pop Mart places Labubu inside THE MONSTERS universe, created by artist Kasing Lung in 2015 and inspired by Nordic mythology. The company describes Labubu as a small monster with high, pointed ears and serrated teeth, a character that looks mischievous but is meant to be kind-hearted. That mix of cute and slightly unhinged has helped push Labubu from niche art toy to one of the brand’s best-known figures, with celebrity attention from names like Dua Lipa and Rihanna keeping the character in the wider conversation.

The Belfast rollout is also part of a much larger UK push. The Entertainer said it would become the country’s largest retailer stocking the brand, with ROBO SHOPS also heading to Lakeside, Brighton, Newcastle Metro, Glasgow St Enoch, Sheffield Meadowhall, Bristol Cribbs, Manchester Arndale, Cambridge, Leeds, Merry Hill, Cardiff and Bluewater. The company first installed a Pop Mart Roboshop at its Bluewater flagship, which opened on Saturday 24 May 2025 in a 3,000 sq. ft store.

That expansion makes Belfast feel less like an isolated test and more like another node in a fast-growing retail net. Pop Mart says it now operates in more than 23 countries and regions through 350-plus offline stores and 2,000-plus Roboshops, and its 2024 results backed up the scale of that push, with revenue of RMB 13.04 billion, adjusted net profit of RMB 3.4 billion and overseas revenue of RMB 5.07 billion. The Entertainer says its Pop Mart range is built around limited editions, licensed collabs and accessible price points, which is the real appeal here: a physical shot at the product before the resale market gets its hands on it.

Whether the ROBO SHOP improves access or becomes its own scarcity flashpoint will depend on stock, but Belfast collectors now have something they did not have before, a local counter to the imported-hunt model that has defined Labubu buying for years.