First Impressions: Visiting Pop Mart's Store in Norwalk, Connecticut

I visited The SoNo Collection in Norwalk, Connecticut over the Easter weekend with a few questions in mind. Outside of large metropolitan cities like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, do Americans know what Pop Mart is? Are they buying?

Why Norwalk?

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, a county often referred to as the Gold Coast and one of the wealthiest in the United States. Norwalk itself sits in the middle of that range: with a population of ~90K and a median household income of ~$100K, it is more of a middle-class suburb. Interestingly, Pop Mart chose Norwalk and Danbury as its first CT openings rather than the wealthier Greenwich or the more commercially prominent Stamford. Both are mid-sized, diverse, working-to-middle-class cities in Fairfield County. Neither would be the obvious prestige pick.

The SoNo Collection opened in 2019 and is one of the very few enclosed malls built from scratch in the U.S. in recent years. It’s the only mall in southern Connecticut with both a Nordstrom and a Bloomingdale’s under one roof. Meanwhile, the malls in Stamford, a bigger and more prominent city just down I-95, have reportedly gone quiet. My Uber driver mentioned that people would drive in from several surrounding towns specifically to come here. The mall has become a regional destination by default.

The demographics are also worth noting. Norwalk is meaningfully diverse: roughly 43% white, 31% Hispanic, 18% Black, and Asian in the single digits. This is not Flushing, as there is no built-in ethnic affinity for a Chinese brand. If Pop Mart is working here, it is working on its own merits with a mainstream American audience.

I have a few guesses for why Pop Mart chose this location specifically. The brand tends to pick higher-end retail environments, and SoNo Collection fits that profile. Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s as co-anchors suggest a consumer base that overlaps with Pop Mart’s price point. Additionally, compared to SoHo or the World Trade Center, the rent here is likely lower, making it a sensible footprint for testing suburban demand.

The Store Itself

The store is small, around 800 to 1,000 square feet, and much smaller than Pop Mart’s Manhattan locations in SoHo and the World Trade Center, and its Queens location in Flushing. It feels like a deliberately scaled-down outpost.

The location within the mall is well-chosen though: ground floor, near an entrance, with high foot traffic visibility. The interior is clean and well-lit, organized by IP, and easy to navigate. My overall impression is that the store is tidy and focused. It is not a cluttered gift shop, but not particularly luxurious either, somewhere between a well-curated boutique and a specialty retail chain.

What’s on the Shelves

Molly commands the most shelf space, including the 400% and 1000% MEGA figures. Labubu is positioned up front near the entrance. Skullpanda gets a large standalone sign near the door on the right. The rest of the wall features Hirono, Twinkle Twinkle, and Dimoo. There is also a section for local American artist IP, Peach Riot, which could be a localization effort. Zsigo and Polar are also present but feel more like fillers. Nearly everything on the shelves is blind box figures. There are a few hair clips and charging cables scattered around, but in negligible quantities.

Who’s Shopping

The crowd is predominantly local: young women and teenagers in pairs, mothers with kids, and the occasional adult duo who looked like they were there to resell. A few people were also taking photos and texting their friends.

Decision-making was fast. People picked up boxes and shook them, the classic blind box ritual of hunting for a secret figure. Several teenagers bought something and immediately ripped it open outside the store. One mother told her kid the prices were “a little expensive” but the kid didn’t look up.

A few consistent themes came out from talking to customers. Hirono and Skullpanda were generating the most interest among the local crowd. A few people mentioned Hirono had gotten noticeably more popular in recent weeks. Labubu, which gets the most press, drew less crowd.

The Staff

The staff is friendly and genuinely interested in the products, but reactive rather than proactive. All interactions were initiated by the shoppers. Unlike PiQ, where staff actively approach customers and evangelize new products, Pop Mart’s floor felt self-service by design. Whether that is intentional brand positioning or a training gap, I couldn’t tell.

On IP origins and artist backstories, staff could speak to certain product lines but had limited knowledge on others.

The Miniso Next Door

I also visited Miniso on the second floor to compare the experience. The Miniso store is two to three times larger. Blind box prices are comparable, but the shelves are chaotic, with figures mixed in with candy, household odds and ends, and cheap accessories. The experience feels more like a fun dollar store that stumbled into collectibles. Pop Mart, on the other hand, has a much simpler and cleaner collection.

Impressions and Open Questions

The store wasn’t packed, maybe 3 to 4 groups of people at any given time. Spring Break does send a lot of families out of town, so foot traffic may have been lighter than a typical weekend. It is certainly not a viral store.

New York has a few toy stores worth the comparison: CAMP, PiQ, and FAO Schwarz. CAMP and FAO are filled with positive energy, with frequent laughter and squeals of joy from adults and kids alike. Pop Mart doesn’t have that. It feels more transactional: people come in, pick something out, leave, and open it outside. It’s not necessarily a problem, just a different kind of retail experience.

The positioning question still feels unclear to me. Compared to Miniso, Pop Mart is clearly the more premium option: cleaner, more curated, and more focused. However, the store does not feel luxurious. It’s somewhere in between, and after walking the floor, I’m not entirely sure what the brand wants you to feel when you leave.

The customers seem loyal though. They were not there because of any connection to China or Chinese culture. They were there because they genuinely like the product.