Pop-up store awaits fans of Korean reality series

The ‘In the Soop’ pop-up store is open until Aug 28.

THE long-awaited “In The Soop” pop-up store is now open at 1 Utama shopping centre in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, making Malaysia the second country in South-East Asia to host it.

The concept is based on South Korean reality series In The Soop, featuring boy bands BTS and Seventeen.

Soop, which means “forest” in Korean, sees the boy-band members spending time doing leisure activities in nature on their days off.

Shoppers will have access to over 300 limited-edition merchandise items inspired by the reality series, including gear worn by the series’ idols.

To ensure a safe experience for all visitors, walk-in as well as pre-registration options are available.

There are two sections in the pop-up store where BTS and Seventeen themed products are available.

In the Seventeen section, items used by band members in the reality show such as bottle openers, cups, plate sets, oven mitts and trivets are available.

3D TinyTAN, which are animated characters based on BTS, provide photo opportunity for fans at 1 Utama shopping centre.

One of the store’s employees, Ming Le said: “Pants, short-sleeved T-shirts, zip-up hoodies as well as woven and fleece jackets worn by Seventeen members in the show are widely available.”

Meanwhile, the BTS clothing collection includes graphic sweatshirts and short pants.

“A purple T-shirt in our collection was worn by BTS member Jin in the reality series,” said Chen Wen Yu, also a member of the pop-up store’s crew.

1 Utama business development manager Danny Chee said a similar graphic T-shirt worn by actor Jungkook in the reality show was also in the BTS clothing collection.

Apart from clothes, stationery such as gel pens, sticky notes and notebooks with animated characters based on BTS – known as TinyTAN – are on sale.

There are 3D posters, TinyTAN toys and plushies as well.

Visitors can take photos with The Soop’s adorable blob-shaped mascot Soopy toy, located inside the store.

They can pose for photos with seven TinyTAN characters which have been brought in from South Korea.

The pop-store is open until Aug 28. — By KAZI T M TARIQUL HAQUE