This Is What a Mall Should Look Like

Written By Chase Burns

⏰ Wed, Nov 26, 2025 @ 5 AM CST
🏙️ Published from Hong Kong, China
🔨 Built by Chase Burns Broderick

Let’s take a quick trip to Hong Kong, where I was able to visit APM’s over-the-top INSTINCTOY “X’mas Toy Lab” pop-up in Kwun Tong. It’s a pastel monster Christmas lab filled with giant Muckey and Fluffy sculptures and limited-edition sofubi drops.

Running from November 22, 2025 to January 4, 2026, turning the atrium into a pastel monster Christmas lab starring Muckey, Fluffy, Ice Vincent, and more.

I didn’t snag a sofubi, but I ended up taking home this cutie:

This type of rotunda takeover is increasingly becoming the norm at malls throughout China. If the future of retail is "Phygital 2.0,” as some analysts are predicting, it’s inevitable for malls to make a comeback as critical touch-points for consumers.

Reporter Ashley Dudarenok broke down this “Online-Merge-Offline” trend for Jing Daily earlier this month:

Leading Chinese fashion brands are designing their physical stores not as points of sale but as content studios. Pop-up flagships now feature AR try-on mirrors, in-store livestreaming corners, and interactive installations that feed directly into social platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu.

The goal is to create a seamless loop: a customer might discover a product through an AI-driven ad, try it on virtually using an AR filter, experience it in a highly curated physical store, and then share their experience online, creating a new cycle of discovery for others.

I’ve seen examples of this at pretty much every mall I’ve been to in Shenzhen. Atriums are for experiences here, not real estate for water fountains.

At one mall I went to, a sprawling Spongebob experience had rows of kids watching Spongebob Squarepants dubbed in Mandarin—while their parents bought plushies around the corner. At another, people tried on AR goggles while others tested drones.

Children sit in yellow SpongeBob–themed folding chairs in a shopping mall, watching a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon on a big screen as part of a colorful kids’ pop-up area decorated with show characters and Chinese signage.

The folding chairs 😭 so cute 😭

Over at MixC, a trendy luxury mall chain with an outpost in Shenzhen, there’s always a long outdoor street featuring rotating trendy toy and fashion pop-ups.

Look! This one had horses!

Close-up of a black horse mannequin leaning through a stable-style window, its head and long mane draped with a net of pearl-like beads and small gold charms inside a dimly lit wooden display.

She’s shy.

Wooden “lost in echo” pop-up stable at night, with a black horse mannequin leaning over the stall door and another glitter-coated horse figure beside it, set against a city building and leafy wall backdrop.

She’s friendly.

She’s friendly.

(Fake horses.)

Importantly, all of these experiences are free.

Life-size black horse mannequin with a long mane and a pearl-trimmed black saddle stands in a wooden stall-style display under a timber roof, lit by warm overhead lights.

SET HER FREE.

But my favorite installation I’ve seen recently is the big INSTINCTOY Christmas pop-up happening at APM Mall in Hong Kong right now.

APM × INSTINCTOY’s “X’mas Toy Lab” turns the floor-level atrium of APM in Kwun Tong into a Christmas monster lab, running November 22, 2025–January 4, 2026. The Christmas installation spotlights giant sculptures of INSTINCTOY’s cult characters (Muckey, Monster Fluffy, and Mini Ice Vincent) posed around a stage.

Love this approach to Christmas colors.

Founded in 2005 by Japanese artist Hiroto Ohkubo, INSTINCTOY is known for sofubi creatures that blend cute and creepy textures, and the event doubles as an exhibition of large figures, complete with a one-week pop-up shop (Nov 22–30) selling limited-edition figures and lottery-only releases at the venue.

Vincent, a kaiju-style monster character produced by INSTINCTOY, was first released as part of the brand’s original sofubi lineup.

Large pastel-pink INSTINCTOY bear statue with petal-like fur and big black eyes rides a smaller fluffy creature with a bow at the APM Mall holiday pop-up.

The big pastel-pink bear is Muckey, one of INSTINCTOY’s core original characters.

Pastel INSTINCTOY display at APM Mall with a clear tube packed full of colorful fuzzy poufs, a Christmas tree decorated in matching pom-poms, and a giant pink furry monster face with sharp white teeth.

Oversized versions of Fluffy, INSTINCTOY’s “FLYING EROSION MONSTER” that also appears as plush straps and pendants.

You want some product? Here’s the list.

Plushes

  • INSTINCTOY 毛絨系列 plush series – 175 HKD / 159 RMB

  • Grateful Days 毛絨玩偶 plush – 220 HKD / 200 RMB

  • 中號 Flappy 毛絨玩偶 (medium Flappy plush) – 300 HKD / 275 RMB

  • BOWY 毛絨玩偶 (Bowy plush) – 890 HKD / 810 RMB

Key straps & charms

  • Ice Vincent / Monster Fluffy rubber strap – 140 HKD / 128 RMB

  • Ice Erosion Rangeas rubber strap – Mid-100 HKD, ~150 RMB

  • Erosion Hapico rubber strap – 140 HKD / 128 RMB

  • YOSUKE UENO “Hapico” strap – 66 HKD / 60 RMB

  • INSTINCTOY Charm Series (blind-box style) – 140 HKD / 128 RMB

  • INSTINCTOY Charm Series “Sugar Heart” (heart beads) – 140 HKD / 128 RMB

Small goods & stickers

  • Ice Liquid (樹脂) jelly/ice series – 110 HKD / 100 RMB (sold out)

  • INSTINCTOY sticker pack (transparent / white-back) – RMB price is 100

  • YOSUKE UENO sticker pack – 40 HKD / 36 RMB

Chase Burns
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