KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 — In an era where streaming and online shopping has taken over, physical K-pop merchandise stores are still thriving.

Pop-up stores have always been popular, giving fans a space to immerse themselves in the world of their favourite group and spurring them to buy more, Asia News Network reported.

Long queue lines, hours of waiting time and sold-out items are common for K-pop pop-up store launches, a strategy by companies to hype up new music releases.

Recently, Blackpink's Jennie made headlines with her Gentle Monster collaboration. (Let's put aside her controversial vaping incident.)

Called Jentle Salon, the pop-up has opened in New York, Seoul, Tokyo and Singapore. KL is the final stop, whereby Jentle Salon will end on July 28. The KL stop is a treat for Jennie fans who queued early on the launch date (July 5) to secure the customised eyewear.

Last week, fans of popular K-pop girl group NewJeans waited patiently in line at 1 Utama for the launch of their latest pop-up in collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

The pop-up opened at 10am but fans were already present as early as 8am for a chance to be the first to get their hands on the merch.

The store sold the latest NewJeans merchandise including T-shirts, plushies, pins and stationery to exclusive fan collectible items like lightsticks, and photocards.

Fans waiting in line were more than willing to spend RM40 to RM2,000 and upwards on the limited-edition merchandise.

But why is this the case? Is it simply blind hype or is it something more? Malay Mail spoke to NewJeans fans (known as Bunnies) to understand why.

What sets NewJeans apart?

Debuting in 2022, NewJeans have been on a steady rise to the top of the current Kpop girl groups with their catchy songs and 1990s to early 2000s-inspired styling.

The quintet of Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein charmed many young fans with hit songs like Ditto, OMG, and Super Shy that nod to genres like Jersey club and UK garage.

This year, the group made a comeback with the double A-side single How Sweet and their Japanese debut single Supernatural.

Their latest string of pop-stores in South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and recently Indonesia have been promoting the latest two releases.

Local content creator Nicky Yaep, who was seen dancing to How Sweet for a TikTok video, said that NewJeans has breathed fresh air with a more relatable image compared to the previous ‘bad girl’ and ‘girlboss’ aesthetics.

Their stores and merchandise are filled with colourful displays and cute drawings compared to the darker edgier concepts of past girl groups like Blackpink.

"I think NewJeans stands out because they have collaborations with PowerPuff Girls and Takashi Murakami which adds more flavour to their merchandise,” Yaep said.

"They are so different from the current generation of girl groups which is why they’ve attracted so many fans.”

Yaep added that their memorable dance choreography has made it fun for fans to recreate in short challenge videos on TikTok, which allows them to ‘build a bond’ with the members through their moves.

Fashionable merchandise

For NewJeans fans, another thing that separates the group from other current girl groups is their trendy 1990s throwback fashion (known as the Y2K aesthetic), said Malaysian fan Kayla, 22.

The group are ambassadors for Nike and Levi's, often seen in public in oversized T-shirts, baggy jeans (as per their name) and chunky sneakers.

She said their merchandise embodies this with T-shirts with trendy graphics and caps with simple designs.

They aren’t just ‘girly stuff’ but clothes that boys and girls can wear which make them hot items.

Kayla travelled to Japan to see NewJeans at their recent fan concert Bunnies Camp at Tokyo Dome and tried to get exclusive T-shirts at their Tokyo pop-up.

"The fans in Tokyo were definitely crazier than us, I think they were a lot of people like me who travelled there just for the store,” she said.

"I arrived at 8am and started queuing at 9am when I got a slot that told me to come back at 6pm. By the time I entered the store, almost everything was sold out. So today, I got to make sure I get the T-shirts.”

University student Sabrina Natasha, 19, loves New Jeans, particularly their merchandise.

Introduced to the group by friends, she's been a fan for two years and attended their pop-up event last year, where she picked up a bunny cushion and a mouse pad.

"This year I want the T-shirt because the aesthetic and design are cool, created by New Jeans themselves," said Sabina.

Cool collaborations

Arif, who previously wasn’t into K-pop, became a NewJeans fan when he found out their 2023 EP Get Up was written by Portuguese R&B singer Erika De Casier.

"I thought that was really good music, very classy for K-pop. I had to get into their stuff,” Arif said.

"The fact that they took inspiration from a lot of stuff that wasn't conventionally K-pop was what got me into them.”

He also appreciated their collaboration with The Powerpuff Girls, a staple of early 2000s animation, an era the group is bringing back.

NewJeans have also put themselves in the front of popular culture, being ambassadors for Coca-Cola and McDonalds.

But it’s not just NewJeans. With K-pop’s global popularity, collaborations between K-pop groups and Western artists are becoming common.

Recent examples are LeSserafim and Demi Lovato, Jonas Brothers and TOMMOROWXTOGETHER, Twice and Lauv.

When it comes to K-artists' album releases, the new set of photocards, posters and photobook outnumber the average contents of Western artists.

Take girl group Itzy’s latest album Born to Be which contains a manual, QR card, photocard set, poster and a special card.

It is common for K-pop groups to release multiple versions of one album, some of them even exclusive, to increase collectability among fans.

The prices of these merch-packed albums can range from RM50 up to RM2,000 depending on its exclusivity and rarity, with personally signed items fetching the highest prices.

On top music releases, lightsticks are one of the most important collectibles for die-hard fans, which are often bought together with their albums.

Parasocial bond with idols

Among the NewJeans fans Malay Mail spoke to, most of them said that they felt a connection to the group members.

"What got me to like NewJeans is not just their catchy music, but also how they connect with the fans,” said Indonesian student Devin, 19.

Like all K-pop groups, NewJeans uses social media content of the members to attract and keep new fans with their beauty, humour and friendly personality.

In their YouTube videos, the members often refer to their super fans as their ‘friends’ and host live streams on their fan app Phoning where they interact with fans' comments.

This gives K-pop fans a sense of comfort and belonging with their idols, often fawning over their favourite members or ‘biases’ in the comments section, according to Refinery29.

Although Sabrina loved every NewJeans member, Minji holds a special place in her heart.

At the pop-up store, she even brought a photocard of Minji to capture to take pictures with, feeling like Minji was with her at the event.

The photo cards sold at Kpop pop-ups are a way for fans to bring their favourite idols into their everyday lives and are highly collectible.

This is why rare photocards of popular groups can be very expensive, with one of the highest being BTS’ Jungkook which was sold at RM15,000 after 120 bids, SKPOP reported.

"In the realm of K-pop, photocards are iconic. They are my favourite item.” Dominic, 25, said.

He has amassed a variety of NewJeans items saying that money is not a factor when it comes to NewJeans and that if he likes a product, regardless of cost, he'll buy it.