Kinda. I went on the hunt for LABUBU and designer toys in ATX and here's the real story. Get ready for empty shelves, marked-up prices, and the one place you actually can get your fix.
Let's get this out of the way immediately. The number one question I get from Texas collectors is: "Is there a Pop Mart Austin store?"
The short answer is no.
The long answer is... Also no, but it's complicated. And frustrating. And it usually ends with you driving all over the city just to come home empty-handed. I know, because I've lived it. As a seller, I get a lot of questions from folks in the Austin area, so I decided to do a proper recon mission the last time I was in town. I wanted to see for myself what the scene was really like.
So, here's my field report on the search for designer toys in the heart of Texas.
The Myth of the "Austin Pop Mart", The Robo-Shop Reality
If you google "Pop Mart Austin," you'll probably see a result for Barton Creek Square. This is technically correct, but deeply misleading. There is no storefront. There are no friendly staff members to chat with about the latest Skullpanda drop.
What you'll find is a Pop Mart Robo-Shop. It's a vending machine. A very fancy, brightly lit vending machine, but a vending machine nonetheless.
I walked into Barton Creek, full of that familiar collector's hope. You know the feeling. The little flutter in your chest, the "what if they have the one?" thought. I found the Robo-Shop tucked away, glowing like a beacon. And my heart sank.
The LABUBU slots were completely empty. Every single one. The Monsters Mischief series? Gone. The Patisseries? A ghost town. There were a few scattered boxes of Hirono's Little Mischief series and a decent stock of the latest Molly collection, but if you were there for Kasing Lung's creations, you were out of luck.
This is the fundamental problem with the Robo-Shops. They get stocked infrequently, and the most popular series, especially anything LABUBU, are gone within hours, sometimes minutes. There's no one to ask when the next shipment is. There's no way to know if they'll even get the next big release. You just show up and pray. More often than not, your prayers go unanswered. It's a taste of the Pop Mart experience, but it's like getting a single, stale potato chip when you were promised a whole bag. It just makes you hungrier and more annoyed.
The experience felt so hollow compared to visiting a real store. I've written about my trips to the Pop Mart in San Francisco, and the difference is night and day. The community, the thrill of shaking boxes (even if it's just for fun), the wall-to-wall selection... That's the magic. A vending machine in a mall just can't replicate it.
The Indie Store Safari: Where to Find (Maybe) LABUBU in Austin
Okay, so the official channel is a bust. What about the indie scene? Austin is famous for its quirky, independent shops. Surely one of them must be a hidden gem for designer toys, right?
I spent the next day on a wild goose chase. Here's the breakdown.
Stop 1: Toy Joy & Yummi Joy
This is Austin's legendary toy store. It's a chaotic, wonderful explosion of color and nostalgia. They do carry blind boxes. I saw a healthy selection of Sonny Angel, Smiski, and some older, less-hyped Pop Mart series. I spotted some Pucky and a few Dimoo space boys.
But LABUBU? Not a single one.
I asked the person at the counter. They were super friendly and knew what I was talking about, which was a good sign. "We get them sometimes," they said, "but they sell out the day we post them on Instagram. We can't keep them in stock."
The prices were also, as expected, a bit higher than retail. A standard Pop Mart box that would be $13.99 at a Robo-Shop was priced at $17.99. That's a standard indie store markup, and I don't blame them, they have overhead, and they have to source their stock through distributors, which adds a layer of cost. But it's something to be aware of. You're paying a premium for the convenience of finding anything at all.
Stop 2: Kinokuniya
This is always a solid bet in other cities. The Kinokuniya in NYC, for example, can be a goldmine. The Austin location is beautiful, with an incredible selection of manga and art books. Their blind box section was decent, but again, it was mostly the B-list series from Pop Mart's perspective. Lots of Sweet Bean, some Zsiga, and a surprising amount of Crybaby.
I spent a good 20 minutes meticulously scanning every shelf. No LABUBU. I even checked the display cases for any open-box figures for sale. Nothing. It felt like the entire city was experiencing a LABUBU drought. The whole experience really drives home the agony and ecstasy of trying to find a LABUBU store near you when there isn't an official one.
Stop 3: Assorted Comic & Anime Shops
I hit up a few smaller comic and anime shops around town. This is where the hunt gets really unpredictable. Most had no designer toys at all. One shop had a dusty shelf with a few ancient-looking Molly boxes from a 2019 series. It was cool to see, like a little time capsule, but not what I was looking for.
This is the reality of hunting in a city without a dedicated scene. You're looking for crumbs. You might get lucky and stumble upon a shop that got a random case of a series you want, but you can't rely on it. It's not a strategy; it's a lottery ticket.
Real Talk: My Honest Verdict on the Austin Scene
So, after a weekend of searching, what's my takeaway on the Pop Mart Austin experience?
Honestly? It's bleak.
If you're a casual collector who is happy with whatever series you can find, you might have some fun. The hunt itself can be an adventure. But if you are specifically trying to figure out where to find LABUBU in Austin, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. The demand in that city, like everywhere else, has completely outstripped the ridiculously small supply that trickles in through unofficial channels and the lone Robo-Shop.
You will spend more money on gas driving around than you would on shipping from a reliable online store. You'll deal with the frustration of empty shelves and the slight sting of paying a 20-30% markup at indie shops.
For a serious collector, it's just not a viable way to build your collection. The time, money, and emotional energy investment is just too high for such a low probability of success. It reminds me of the early days before Pop Mart had a real US presence, when getting any figure felt like a monumental achievement. If you're just starting out, you might want to read up on a basic collector's playbook for getting your first LABUBU, because walking into a store isn't always step one.
The Collector's Secret Weapon: The Online World
So where are Austin collectors getting their fix? The answer isn't on a store shelf. It's on their phones and laptops.
The real Austin scene lives in Facebook groups, Discord servers, and online communities. Local collectors form trading and selling groups where they alert each other to Robo-Shop restocks (with photos of the empty shelves posted minutes later) and sell their doubles. This is where the real action is.
But this world comes with its own set of risks. You're dealing with individual sellers, not a business. This means you have to be vigilant about a few things:
1. Inflated Reseller Prices: The LABUBU Macaron, which retails for around $16, was being sold for $30-$35 per box in these groups. Secrets or popular regular designs? Forget about it. We're talking $80, $100, even $200 for a single figure. 2. The Risk of Fakes: The counterfeit market is getting scarily good. When you're buying from an individual, you have very little recourse if you get a fake. You need to know what you're looking for. Be wary of anyone selling "Lafufu" or other knockoff names, as it's a minefield for new collectors. I've written before about how to spot fakes and where to buy the real thing, and it's never been more important. 3. No Guarantees: The seller could be slow to ship. The box could get damaged. They might just be a scammer. You have to vet people, check for references, and always, always pay using a method with buyer protection like PayPal Goods & Services.
A Quick Tip That Won't Help in Austin (But You Should Know Anyway)
I saw a few people at the Robo-Shop trying the old "weigh the box" trick to find the secret. Friends, I have to tell you: this does not work anymore.
On older series, you could sometimes identify a secret or a specific character because the accessory would make the box slightly heavier or lighter. Pop Mart caught on. For at least the last year, all the boxes in a case are weighted to be nearly identical. They use standardized plastic inserts and sometimes even add small weights to lighter figures to even things out.
I've opened hundreds of boxes for my shop, PopNya. I've weighed them out of curiosity. The variance is often less than a gram. You have a better chance of guessing the secret than you do of identifying it with a pocket scale. Don't waste your time. The only "trick" that still works is the thrill of the pull.
At the end of my Austin trip, I was tired and my collection was no bigger than when I started. The hunt was a total bust. It drove home a point for me as a seller: the reason we have so many customers from places like Austin, or Nashville, or Portland, is because the local options are just not cutting it.
The best "local" shop is often the one that reliably ships to your door, has the series you actually want, and guarantees you're getting an authentic product. You miss out on the thrill of the physical hunt, sure. But you also miss out on the wasted gas, the empty shelves, and the feeling of total defeat.
For Austin collectors, my advice is to save your time and energy. Join the local online communities to trade and connect with fellow fans, but for acquiring new series, find a trusted online retailer. You'll have a much better time, and your shelves will be much fuller. And if you're looking for a place to start, you can always browse the LABUBU figures we have in stock at PopNya. We make sure our virtual shelves are a lot more satisfying than that lonely vending machine in Barton Creek.
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