Business reporter, BBC News
Fans of viral Labubu dolls have reacted angrily online after its maker pulled the toys from all UK stores following reports of customers fighting over them.
Pop Mart, which makes the monster bag charms, told the BBC it had paused selling them in all 16 of its shops until June to “prevent any potential safety issues”.
Labubu fan Victoria Calvert said she witnessed chaos in the Stratford store in London. “It was just getting ridiculous to be in that situation where people were fighting and shouting and you felt scared.”
The soft toys became a TikTok trend after being worn by celebrities like Rihanna and Dua Lipa. Now some retail experts are warning the stop on stock will only heighten demand.
Labubu is a quirky monster character created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, and popularised through a collaboration with toy store Pop Mart.
Since gaining celebrity status they’ve gone viral as a fashion accessory.
In the UK, prices can range from £13.50 to £50, with rare editions going for hundreds of pounds on resale sites such as Vinted and eBay.
Pop Mart said it was working on a fairer system for when the toys return to its shelves.
But fans on social media were not happy at the decision to pull the dolls.
“It’s your fault for drip feeding stock to us that’s caused this hype,” one commented on Pop Mart’s Instagram post.
Others vented their anger at resellers.
“Buyers are re-selling them for £100 for one Labubu, which is unacceptable. How come they get to buy and other people can’t?!” one said.
“Sooo upset that resellers ruin everything,” replied another.
Victoria said when she arrived at the store she met other customers who had been outside since 03:00 BST and others that had camped overnight.
“When I got there there were big crowds of people hovering around the shop and there was this really negative vibe,” she said.
“People were shouting, basically saying there were no more Labubus left. I even witnessed a fight between a worker and a customer.”
She said she left after feeling unsafe. “It was a pretty bad experience, it was really scary,” she said.
The store told the BBC: “Although no Pop Mart employees have been injured, we’ve chosen to act early and prevent any potential safety issues from occurring.”
Victoria said “it’s probably for the best” that Pop Mart paused in-store sales.
She believes some people at the front of the queue were resellers because “as soon as they got their ticket, apparently they were selling it for £150 and the ticket allowed you to get a Labubu.”
Jaydee, a marketing executive who posts Labubu unboxing videos on TikTok, blames resellers for ruining the fun of the Labubu trend.
“I’ve lived in London my whole life and there is a resale crowd who do this,” she told the BBC.
“It’s really unfortunate but for the real fans this is great news and the right decision,” she said. “Now I can go into Pop Mart without having to queue.”
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Pop Mart’s restricting stock and selling the dolls in blind boxes had led to the fan frenzy.
“But the big crowds building on stock drop days have clearly become a costly headache to manage,” she said.
“Out-of-control crowds could affect ultimately the brand’s playful and fun appeal which is likely to be why sales have been paused,” she said.
She warned the suspension would probably lead to demand building up and more attempts to buy the dolls online – but they sell out within seconds.
“It could also push more fans to resale sites, but counterfeit Labubus are being sold, so there is a risk customers could be duped into buying fakes.”
Pop Mart told the BBC there had been large queues with some fans arriving the night before and said this was “not the kind of customer experience it aimed to offer”.
“Labubu will return to physical stores in June, and we are currently working on a new release mechanism that is better structured and more equitable for everyone involved.”