The appeal of the blind box experience, explained

Pop Mart's latest line of Labubu, Big Into Energy, is a popular blind box toy sold by the Chinese retailer. Pop-up events selling the toy have shown up, like at Ocha Boba, in Edmonton on July 24, 2025. (Adrienne Lee/CTV News Edmonton)

The hunt is on for a piece of treasure, hidden away under layers of colourful packaging to deliver a mystery – and people are buying into the blind box experience.

Shoppers who purchase a blind box don’t know what item they will exactly get inside.

“Everyone’s buying,” 203 Collectibles store owner Steven Phu said at the KDays expo on Thursday morning.

Phu said he originally brought 30 boxes with him to his vendor booth at the fair grounds. It was all snatched up in less than two days.

“We don’t have any left. We had to bring extra from the store and those are all gone, too.”

The hobby store owner said he was unprepared for the demand at the carnival, but he has noticed a surge in interest for the mystery toy items, especially with brands like Pop Mart’s Labubu.

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“In March, that’s when they started becoming popular and then it completely exploded over the summer,” Phu said, adding the fuel has been lit by social media and influencers buying full sets to unbox online.

Heather Thomson, VP of economy and engagement at the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, attributes the surge in interest with marketing toward our “primal root of nesting” and our nature to want something that’s hard to find.

“Large retail chains spend a lot of time and effort ensuring that people are experiencing the hunt,” she said. “There’s a scarcity angle there and consumers really like that.”

“We can see that, not just from the data, but from the dollars being earned by a lot of these different retailers.”

Pop Mart, the Chinese toy company that partnered with artist Kasing Lung to bring Labubu to life as a plush bag charm sold in the blind-box format, is one retailer cashing in. According to the company’s annual report, Pop Mart’s revenue more than doubled in 2024 to 13.04 billion yuan (US$1.81 billion).

There are variations of the Labubu, but all come in a blind box, which means the buyer doesn’t know which one of the pointy-toothed monsters they will get. Throw in the chances of finding a secret one that is in limited production and it becomes even more of a hunt.

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“I think people want to feel like they’re winning,” Thomson said.

“They want to feel like they won through a purchase whether that’s Black Friday and someone gets a great deal, or it’s the one Christmas tree at Costco left in August … you just want to be able to be part of purchasing something that you feel is good value for your money.”

She added that packaging plays into the “entertainment” of blind boxes.

“If the packaging is beautiful, that really increases the value of whatever that mystery is and people will spend more money on it.”

203 Collectibles has a shop in Mill Woods Town Centre in south Edmonton, but they recently brought blind boxes to sell at a pop-up event last week at a local cafe. Phu said the event brings groups of people together to enjoy unravelling the mystery at the same time.

“You each get a blind box, each get a drink, sit there, you sip, and you just rip open the bag.”

He added that there are a lot of variety of blind boxes now from anime to unique characters. But most people keep buying for a specific character.

“People want the secret rare one and I think that’s what the appeal is,” Phu explained.

That’s where price point comes into play with repeat purchases and trends, according to Thomson.

“It’s a mini form of gambling and some people have a higher tolerance for that based on their economic circumstances, and some people have no tolerance for that,” Thomson said, adding you will see a bigger pool of people willing to risk $15 versus $50 on an unknown item.

And while toy trends come and go, there is some basic marketing with blind boxes that will not.

“The thing that is going to remain is this notion for the consumer to feel like they’re getting in on the fun – they want the mystery, they want the hunt, they want the exclusivity – those principles are not going away.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Alex Antoneshyn, Dave Mitchell and CTVNews.ca