Labubu toymaker Pop Mart picks London as European headquarters, rolls out new stores

That plan was revealed at a closed-door CEO round table on Friday during the UK-China Business Forum, where Starmer met a group of Chinese business leaders that included Pop Mart founder and CEO Wang Ning.

“London stands at the heart of the global creative ecosystem, and we are thrilled to plant our European roots there,” Wang said in a statement released by the British government.

As part of that move, Pop Mart would also open seven new bricks-and-mortar shops in the UK, including new outlets in Birmingham, Cardiff and a flagship store on Oxford Street – one of Europe’s busiest shopping destinations. The investment was expected to create more than 150 jobs in the UK, according to the statement.

In addition, Pop Mart aimed to launch around 20 additional stores across major European cities over the coming year, the statement said.

Wang said London’s role at the centre of the global creative economy made it a natural choice for Pop Mart’s European base, citing existing partnerships with various British intellectual property (IP), such as Harry Potter, as well as opportunities to collaborate deeper with local creative industries across the UK and Europe.

Pop Mart’s latest expansion initiative comes as Starmer concluded his four-day visit to Beijing, the first by a British prime minister in eight years, as the UK seeks to strengthen economic engagement with China amid strained relations with Washington.

South China Morning Post