Hundreds of fans were already waiting in line – some young, some old, some pushing prams – when Camille Lacroix arrived at the opening of Chinese toy giant Pop Mart’s latest Paris location in the La Défense business district last month.
“I arrived at 10am, but guess how many people were already there before?” she wrote in a post about her visit on TikTok. “Spoiler: it was crazy.”
Others who survived the opening day crush flocked to the comment section to share their experiences.
“I arrived at 7.30am and there were already 87 people ahead of me,” one user wrote, adding the scared emoji. “But I got what I wanted.”
For the uninitiated, brands like Pop Mart specialise in selling cute collectible dolls that can be clipped onto a key ring or a handbag. The twist: the toys are often sold in mystery boxes, so customers are never sure which character they will find inside.