I had this romantic vision in my head. Me, strolling down a Parisian street, croissant in one hand, a super-rare, France-exclusive LABUBU in the other. The kind of thing you see on Instagram and immediately feel a pang of collector's envy. The search for LABUBU France was officially on.
Spoiler alert: It wasn't quite like that. But it was an adventure, and if you're a collector like me, you know the hunt is half the fun.
So, I packed my bags for a trip to Paris, with one non-negotiable on my itinerary: a pilgrimage to the Pop Mart store. I'd heard the stories, seen the posts about the Louvre collaboration, and I needed to see the LABUBU Paris scene for myself. As someone who runs PopNya and ships these little monsters out daily, I have to do my field research, right?
The Main Event: Pop Mart Châtelet
The main, and really only, official destination for a LABUBU hunt in Paris is the Pop Mart store in the Châtelet–Les Halles area. It's a massive, bustling shopping district, and the store itself is pretty easy to find.
My first impression? It's bright, it's clean, and it's busy. Very busy. Even on a weekday afternoon, it was packed with a mix of serious-looking local collectors, curious tourists, and groups of teenagers, all buzzing around the blind box walls. The energy was great, but it also gave me that familiar feeling of dread: high traffic means low stock of the good stuff.
I immediately started scanning the shelves for LABUBU. My eyes are trained for it. I can spot that toothy grin and those long ears from across a room. And I found them. Sort of.
They had a decent section dedicated to Kasing Lung's creations. I saw a healthy stack of The Monsters x One Piece crossover, which was cool to see in person. They also had a few boxes left of the "Have a Seat" series. But what really caught my eye was the wall of Exciting Macaron LABUBU. They had plenty. This was a bit of a surprise, as the Macarons can be tricky to find depending on the week. Seeing a full display was a good sign, and it's a solid series for anyone just starting their collection.
But here's the thing that only a fellow collector will truly understand. You could feel what wasn't there. The hyped series? The recent drops that sell out online in minutes? Gone. There were empty slots on the shelves with just a picture of the box, a silent testament to a feeding frenzy that had already happened. I didn't see a single box of the wildly popular Zimomo "Big into Energy" series, for example. It felt like I had just missed the party.
The Mythical Beast: The Louvre LABUBU
Okay, let's talk about the elephant in the room. Or rather, the monster in the museum. The Pop Mart x Louvre collaboration. This is probably the number one reason people search for "LABUBU Paris." The collection featured LABUBU and other Pop Mart characters dressed as famous artworks, the Mona Lisa LABUBU, the Winged Victory LABUBU. An absolutely brilliant concept.
When this was announced, the collector community lost its collective mind. I got dozens of emails at PopNya asking if I could source them. The problem is, people have the wrong idea about this collaboration.
This was not a permanent collection sold at the Louvre.
Let me repeat that for the people in the back: The Louvre LABUBU was a limited-time pop-up event that happened in the summer of 2023. It's over. Gone. Finito. You cannot walk into the Louvre gift shop (I checked, for science) and buy a Mona Lisa LABUBU. You cannot walk into the Pop Mart Paris store and find them sitting on a shelf.
The staff at the Pop Mart store looked weary when I asked about it. I could tell they get asked this a hundred times a day. They confirmed it was a one-time event and they have no idea if it will ever return.
So where are they now? The secondary market. And the prices are astronomical. I'm talking about figures that retailed for maybe €15-€20 now selling for €150-€300 each on platforms like StockX and Vinted (which is very popular in France). The full set is a down payment on a car. It's a classic case of manufactured scarcity meeting incredible hype. It's a beautiful set, but unless you have very deep pockets, it's a ghost. A beautiful, expensive ghost.
A Quick Price Comparison and Stock Reality
As a seller, I'm always crunching the numbers. So, how do the Paris prices stack up?
A standard LABUBU blind box at the Pop Mart Paris store was €14.90. At the time of my trip, that was about $16.15 USD. That's actually a bit more expensive than the typical $14.99 or $15.99 price point we see in the US. After taxes, it's not a bargain.
So, you are not going to Paris to save money on LABUBU. You're going for the experience and the chance of finding something you can't get at home.
The availability was the real issue. The store seems to suffer from the same problem as every other popular Pop Mart location worldwide: the most sought-after series sell out almost instantly. The staff gets a shipment, it's gone in a day or two, and then you're left with the more common, evergreen series. It's a solid B- selection. You'll find a LABUBU, but you probably won't find the LABUBU you've been desperately hunting for.
One thing I noticed that was a real "insider" detail: the shaking. In the Paris store, there were signs (in French and English) explicitly asking people not to shake the blind boxes. And yet, everyone was doing it. Subtly, of course. The little tilt-and-listen. The gentle jostle. It's a universal language for collectors. It was a funny moment of shared, slightly illicit camaraderie. For the record, the weight trick is getting harder and harder, especially with newer series like the Macarons where the figures are all fairly uniform in size and weight. You're better off just trusting your luck.
Beyond Pop Mart: The Rest of Paris
Is there anywhere else to find LABUBU in Paris?
I spent an afternoon wandering through Le Marais, popping into various concept stores, comic shops, and high-end toy stores. The answer was a resounding "non." While I found some cool Bearbricks and a few Kaws pieces in art galleries, LABUBU and Pop Mart have a complete monopoly on their own distribution. They are not sold in other retail stores.
This is a key difference from the scene in Asia (like Hong Kong or Singapore) where you can often find designer toys in a wider variety of shops. In Paris, it's the official Pop Mart store or nothing. The LABUBU France market is essentially a one-stop shop. This makes the hunt both simpler (you know exactly where to go) and more frustrating (if that one store is out of stock, you're out of luck).
Real Talk: Is a LABUBU Trip to Paris Worth It?
Here's my honest take as a collector and seller.
Do not plan a trip to Paris just to buy LABUBU. You will likely be disappointed. The dream of finding some ultra-rare, region-exclusive figure is, for the most part, a myth. The Louvre collab is history, the prices are slightly higher, and the stock of hyped items is fleeting.
However, if you are already going to Paris, then 100% you should go to the Pop Mart store. It's a fun experience. The energy is infectious, and it's fascinating to see which series are popular in a different part of the world. You might get lucky! You might find a series that sold out in your area but had a delayed release in Europe. You might pull a secret you've been chasing for months. The thrill of opening a blind box in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower (not literally, but you get the picture) is a great memory.
My advice is to manage your expectations. Go to Paris for the art, the food, the history, and the beauty of the city. Consider any LABUBU you find a delightful, toothy little souvenir. A bonus prize.
If your primary goal is just to get your hands on a specific figure or series, you're honestly better off ordering online. The global supply chain means most things are available everywhere eventually, and you'll save yourself the potential heartbreak of a sold-out shelf. It's why we work so hard at PopNya to keep a diverse LABUBU collection in stock, for everyone who can't just hop on a plane to France.
My Final Haul & Tips for Your Hunt
So what did I walk away with? I bought two boxes of the Exciting Macaron series, mostly for the fun of it. I pulled a Strawberry and a Pistachio. No secret, but they are undeniably cute and the quality is fantastic, just as I'd heard from customers. It was more about the experience than the specific pull.
If you're planning your own LABUBU Paris adventure, here are my parting tips:
1. Follow @popmartfrance on Instagram. They post about new arrivals and restocks. This is your best and only source of real-time information. Don't just show up and hope for the best. 2. Go on a weekday morning. The store will be less crowded, and you have a better chance of catching a fresh restock before it's picked clean. 3. Lower your expectations for exclusives. The Louvre series is a collector's item on the secondary market now. Don't go expecting to find it. 4. Have fun with it! Even if you don't find your holy grail, enjoy the atmosphere. Talk to other collectors in the store. It's a global community, and it's pretty cool to be a part of it, no matter where you are in the world.
The quest for LABUBU in France wasn't the treasure trove I had dreamed of, but it was a perfect snapshot of the global toy collecting phenomenon. It's a mix of hype, frustration, community, and the simple joy of finding a little monster that makes you smile.
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