POP MART’s Beloved Character Steps Further Into Everyday Life
LONDON, BANGKOK and SHANGHAI, June 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — HIRONO has never been the loudest character in the room.
Created by artist Lang and published by POP MART, HIRONO is introverted, quietly perceptive, and deeply felt — a character that resonates not through spectacle but through recognition. For years, that resonance lived in art toys, sculpture, and collectibles. Now it has an address. Four of them.
With stores across Shanghai, Bangkok, and London, and Korea’s first flagship set to open at Gwangjang Market in Seoul on 5 June 2026, HIRONO is expanding its presence across Asia and Europe — each space designed not as a retail environment, but as a place that reflects the character’s world.
Shanghai
HIRONO’s first permanent store opened in Shanghai on 21 February 2025 — the brand’s earliest and most considered expression in physical space.
The interior is built from concrete and reclaimed wood, with rows of traditional medicine cabinet drawers running along the walls. The reference is deliberate: the Chinese apothecary, a place associated with care, with quiet attention, with the idea that what ails you deserves a proper remedy. Here, that logic extends to the emotional. The space is unhurried by design.
Bangkok
The Bangkok store opened on 20 December 2025, occupying four floors in Siam Square and taking the floating market as its starting point — one of Thailand’s most enduring cultural forms, and one that has always been about more than buying and selling.
Lang’s interpretation doesn’t recreate the floating market so much as draw from its spirit: a place where commerce and community exist in the same breath, where you might come for one thing and stay for another. Retail and leisure are woven through the building rather than separated. The top floor is given over entirely to rest.
London
HIRONO’s European debut landed on Brick Lane on 15 February 2026, in a neighbourhood that has been accumulating character for decades — industrial heritage, immigrant culture, street art, an ever-shifting creative scene. It is a place where new things arrive without erasing what came before.
The store works within that logic. The original brick facade is intact. Furniture and objects were sourced from nearby antique markets. The wall typography echoes the visual language of the street outside. Nothing about the space signals arrival — it settles in.
Seoul
Of the four cities, Seoul presented the widest range of options. HIRONO landed at Gwangjang Market — established in 1905, one of Korea’s oldest and most lived-in spaces, a place that has never needed rebranding because it has never stopped being used. Street food vendors, fabric merchants, the particular noise and warmth of a covered market that runs on daily habit rather than foot traffic. Lang has described finding, in the atmosphere of Gwangjang, something closer to HIRONO’s sensibility than any purpose-built retail district could offer.
The store takes its name from that atmosphere: Passing Station. Not a destination you plan a trip around, but a stop that appears naturally on the route. The interior draws on the visual language of the Seoul subway, threading familiar, everyday references through the space so that it settles into Gwangjang’s existing rhythm rather than standing apart from it.
The flagship opens on 5 June 2026, with artist Lang visiting Korea for the first time to mark the occasion. It will be HIRONO’s first space in Korea to offer the brand’s full apparel line alongside its art toys, homeware, jewellery, and accessories — the most complete expression of the HIRONO world to date.
As more cities join this story, HIRONO is slowly moving beyond the idea of “character.”
It no longer exists only within a specific series, or as something displayed and observed. Shanghai, Bangkok, London, Seoul — each city carries the journey a little further forward. And Seoul, perhaps, is only the beginning of what comes next.
About POP MART
Founded in 2010, POP MART (09992.HK) is a leading company in the designer collectibles and pop culture entertainment industry. Leveraging our ecosystem built around characters and IPs, connecting with our fans through creative, immersive experiences, POP MART aims to light up passion and bring joy to fans everywhere.
With a core focus on designer collectibles, theme parks & experiential services, and digital entertainment, we manage and represent exceptional artists globally. Our IP portfolio includes dozens of iconic characters loved by fans worldwide, such as THE MONSTERS, SKULLPANDA, CRYBABY, MOLLY, DIMOO, Twinkle Twinkle, and HIRONO. Our products are available in more than 30 countries and regions via 630+ stores, 2,600+ roboshops, and on major e-commerce platforms. The company went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2020.
About Hirono
Hirono’s personality is anchored in his hidden emotions. He is introverted, occasionally naughty, and often meanders without a clear direction. Hirono’s world is a spiritual shelter protecting innocence and imagination that we fumble to maintain. It’s that special something that connects us with our own unique emotional vibrations.
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/hirono-four-stores-across-shanghai-bangkok-london-and-seoul-302813203.html
SOURCE POP MART
