Thailand turns to Pop Mart, Miniso to win back Chinese tourists

ON A late October morning, a long queue snaked through Siam Square, the bustling heart of Bangkok’s shopping district. The crowd had gathered for the grand opening of the first overseas Miniso Land — a multistory superstore for trendy toys.

The ground floor of the new Miniso flagship location was a shrine to Disney’s “Zootopia 2.” Local influencers in cosplay and media guests browsed aisles of co-branded merchandise, part of a global launch that the Chinese toy retailer chose to debut in Thailand.

Just 500 metres away, rival trendy toy retailer Pop Mart’s two-story store teemed with local shoppers and Chinese tourists snapping up Labubu dolls and other collectibles already sold out in China. Pop Mart is still enlarging the space to make room for another of its hit piece of intellectual property (IP). In August, the company also opened a 760-square-metre store — its largest worldwide — in Bangkok’s Iconsiam mall.