Pop Mart Opens Third Connecticut Location at Westfarms Mall

Central Connecticut collectors finally have a Pop Mart destination of their own. The global designer toy retailer, best known for driving the Labubu craze that swept TikTok and turned elf-toothed blind-box monsters into bag charm status symbols, is listed as "coming soon" in the Westfarms Mall directory, slated for the first level between Build-A-Bear Workshop, Aerie, Kids Foot Locker, and Vans.

The Westfarms location will be Pop Mart's third Connecticut store. The company opened its first state location at The SoNo Collection in Norwalk in March 2025, then expanded to Danbury Fair Mall in September. Both are in Fairfield County, which until now had been the only part of Connecticut with a physical Pop Mart presence.

No opening date has been announced. Mall officials at Westfarms have not confirmed a timeline, and Pop Mart had not responded to media inquiries as of the time of reporting.

For collectors who have been making the drive to Norwalk or Danbury, the draw is obvious. Pop Mart's shelves carry original characters including Labubu, Molly, Pucky, Dimoo, and Hirono, plus lines like Twinkle Twinkle and SKULLPANDA, alongside licensed collectibles tied to Disney, DC Comics, Harry Potter, SpongeBob, and Minions. The company's signature blind-box format keeps each purchase a surprise, with sealed packaging that conceals which variant is inside, a mechanic that functions similarly to pulling a Pokémon card pack. Pop Mart was founded in 2010 by Wang Ning and has since expanded to hundreds of stores and automated "Robo Shops" worldwide.

Labubu, the jagged-grinned character that anchors "The Monsters" line created by artist Kasing Lung, became the breakout collectible of last summer. Connecticut content creator Thuy-Linh Phan described the phenomenon plainly when Labubu-mania peaked: "It's like the Furby of this generation." Now, with a Westfarms location on the way, Phan is tracking the next phase of the trend. "I'm very excited, I like that it's getting more mainstream," she said. "There's a little bit of something for everybody. There is something that you think is cute, something that you can put on your desk that can start a conversation. People want a personality again. Human is the new luxury."

The timing aligns with fresh product news: Pop Mart announced a "Monsters" crossover with Hello Kitty and Friends, available March 12.

Pop Mart is one of several new tenants heading to Westfarms, which is also adding Barnes & Noble, Haagen-Dazs, and Riviera French Cafe. The mall straddles both Farmington and West Hartford, positioning the incoming Pop Mart as a natural hub for collectors across the greater Hartford area who have been ordering online or making county-line runs for their pulls.