Pop Mart to Open Seven UK Stores, Base European HQ in London

Pop Mart International Group Ltd said it will establish a London-based headquarters for its European operations and open seven bricks-and-mortar shops across Britain, including a flagship on Oxford Street and new outlets in Birmingham and Cardiff. A statement released by the British government and quoted by SCMP said the UK investment is expected to create more than 150 jobs.

The expansion was announced during the UK–China Business Forum as part of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to China, with CEO Wang Ning revealing the plan at a closed-door meeting and stating, “London stands at the heart of the global creative ecosystem, and we are thrilled to plant our European roots there.” The announcement signals a strategic push to turn Labubu’s online and blind-box popularity into a more permanent high-street presence.

Pop Mart gave differing scales for the wider European rollout. A government statement cited by SCMP said the company aimed to launch around 20 additional stores across major European cities over the coming year. The Edge reported a larger figure, saying Pop Mart would open 27 new stores in Europe in the coming year, including as many as seven in the UK. The Edge also noted that Pop Mart operated 18 physical stores in Europe as of mid-2025 and had opened at least eight more outlets since then, with recent openings in Copenhagen and Rome.

The push comes even as Europe represented under 3.4 percent of Pop Mart’s revenue in the first half of 2025, compared with 16.3 percent from the Americas, The Edge reported. Pop Mart has been expanding its retail model globally after testing permanent locations and pop-ups: Toybook reported a second permanent London site at Westfield Stratford City following a successful White City pop-up and an initial Soho store in 2021, and noted recent permanent launches in Australia, the U.S., and South Korea.

Pop Mart is also pursuing localized design and licensing partnerships. Wang Ning told investors in an August earnings briefing, “We follow a localized design approach across different countries and regions to reinforce brand recognition among global consumers from diverse cultural backgrounds.” SCMP recorded Wang citing existing partnerships with British IPs such as Harry Potter as examples of local collaboration opportunities.

Market watchers flagged risks alongside excitement. The Edge said signs of cooling demand had raised questions about sustainability and noted shares had fallen more than 30 percent from their August peak. Independent analysis from Ainvest described the expansion as “a binary bet on execution,” adding that converting viral online demand into brick-and-mortar loyalty will determine whether Pop Mart can sustain momentum. Ainvest also attributed robust first-half revenue to the company’s Monsters series and raised issues including rapid international sales claims and a high proportion of counterfeit Labubu copies in UK seizures; those points remain Ainvest assertions.

For collectors and local retailers, the immediate practical impact is greater access to Labubu drops, licensed runs and in-store events as Pop Mart plants a formal European hub in London. Keep an eye on exact opening dates for the Oxford Street flagship and the pace of the 2026 European rollout, execution will show whether Labubu’s blind-box fever can translate into lasting store traffic.