Shoppers injured at opening of first Pop Mart in Thailand as crowd rushes to buy toys
BANGKOK - Several shoppers were injured on Wednesday, after a large crowd rushed to buy limited edition art toys at the opening of Thailand’s first Pop Mart store in Bangkok.
The popular Chinese toy company officially launched its flagship Thai store at CentralWorld shopping mall on Rama I Road.
Shoppers who spent over 10,000 baht (S$377) can buy the Thai limited edition of its Skull Panda art toy, as part of its special opening day promotion.
There were only 140 units of the collectible, that stands at 14cm high. The toy is described as “Skull Panda Hoar Frost Le Coeur de Neige” and costs 6,990 baht each.
On Tuesday, hundreds of shoppers reportedly queued overnight in front of the store.
However, some in line were not toy collectors. Instead, they were hired to queue by scalpers who hope to resell the limited edition toys at higher prices, said a source.
A job advertisement, that was posted on Facebook on Tuesday, was looking for 50 people to stand in line at the Pop Mart to get the queue cards. The advertisement offered 400 baht to 1,000 baht as payment.
Pop Mart, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is known for selling collectible designer toys, which are often packaged in a “blind box” format. It is highly popular among China’s young and affluent consumers. - THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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