On November 5th, I finally had the chance to go to the BTS Pop Up in Toronto! I have been meaning to go for months now, but due to personal reasons I wasn’t able to. Nevertheless, I was able to get some pics and clips, as well as grabbed a few items myself to provide a proper review of the space so you know what to expect when shopping. This review also includes some pointers and my honest thoughts when it comes to quality and pricing. Before you read the review below, I would greatly appreciate your support by giving a follow on social media (and would mean a lot to connect with more BTS ARMY) on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook! For my POV of shopping inside and visual teaser of what you can expect, please see the video below!
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About and Location
This special pop-up dedicated to the incredibly talented global phenomenon BTS, is presented by Sukoshi Mart, the same company that did the BT21 pop-up in Toronto in 2021. However, this pop-up is at a different location, the Toronto Eaton Centre (220 Yonge St), with several parking options (paid unfortunately) and easily accessible via public transit.
There are several reasons for why this pop-up is special, starting with the fact that it opened on August 31st, 2022 and will close on December 31st, 2022 which is amazing to hear about a pop-up in Toronto as it is usually only a few days. The other thing is that there is a large variety of items available from BTS, which I will go into detail in the section below. I was surprised a bit by the selection and prices, especially since I didn’t see any BT21 items available. This pop-up seems to be focused solely on BTS merchandise that is usually available on Weverse and unique TinyTan products and I feel there might be similar BTS Space of BTS popups globally. There are some interesting things inside to take pictures of as well. Keep in mind that they are constantly getting new products, and it does depend on when you go. When I went there was no line or time limit but I know when the store first opened there was a pretty large line to get inside and a 15 minute time limit to shop.
Photo Opportunities
There are a few things to take pictures of or with inside the store and I have included in the collage above. I would say the coolest thing was the TinyTan display near the back of the store.
Products and Pricing
I have split up the products into different section and tried to include the pricing of what I can recall. As stated earlier, they are getting new stuff so even though not all these items are guaranteed to be there when you go, you might even see some better things! I will say that the pricing seemed really high and the only explanation to justify is that when you shop on Weverse you are spending a lot of money on shipping and handling so maybe that plays a factor on the prices you will see when shopping here.
General BTS Merch
I wanted to start off with the general BTS merchandise I saw which includes the basic tees, ARMY jacket, vest, and more. Frankly, the prices are high because the ARMY coaches jacket was $200 and I think the vest was around $150. The t-shirts were around $65-80 but keep in mind not all of these shirts have the BTS logo on it. Smaller accessories like pens socks and were under $20 but I think the laptop cases were around $60.
TinyTan Merch
I was genuinely surprised with the amount of TinyTan merchandise available! You can see some of the prices above and I think the cheapest item would have been the pop-up cards but even then I don’t think it was under $10. I did like most of the items here but I ended up getting a Namjoon/RM TinTan pen for $18 (the quality is good) and I would’ve gotten a figure if they had a set featuring all the members but everything was separate except for the pop-up cards and a Dynamite puzzle.
Singles Merch
This was surprising because they did have some exclusive merch for their singles such as ON, DNA, Mic Drop, Idol, and more. The product assortment varied from bags (I think tote bags were $50) to shirts and more. They did mix it with some of the general stuff such as the cardigan (I think $120-$150) and vest but keep in mind your sizing (see below about trying on items). I bought a DNA t-shirt because I thought it looked nice and the song is in my Top 5, however, when I got home and tried it on it was extremely tight, which reminded me of when I got the Suga Vintage Artist Merch at PTD LA where the sizing was so off. However, I did get the yellow ON Flannel because that’s another song that’s in my top 5 but also because I love the artwork that was stitched at the back. This did fit true to size like my BT21 hoodie from last year’s popup. Both were expensive as the t-shirt was $80 and the flannel was $140.
In The Soop Merch
What I found interesting about this section that was near the front of the store is that it didn’t just have BTS x In The Soop products, but it also had Seventeen x In The Soop items! I noticed that Seventeen’s items were cheaper than BTS by approximately $10-15. My sister did get a sweater ($134) and she said it is really warm so even though it is also in the range of $80-$120 I would say it can be worth it.
Collaborative Merch
Last but not least I saw this near the entrance and thought it was really cool, but I think if you went to any of the Permission to Dance on Stage concerts you would appreciate it more, especially Seoul and Los Angeles! I didn’t see the mug when I was there so I had to get it for $34 but I also loved that they had so much Butter x McDonald’s merchandise available such as the socks, denim shirt. sweaters, and more which I already have personally!
Returns, Trying On Items, and Special Gifts
When I went they mentioned that they are only allowing people to try on clothes that can be placed over your clothes, so in other words zip-up hoodies and clothing with buttons. All sales are final but before you go to purchase, just a tip, if you are going with someone and spend over $175 (trust me it will be easy to get to that), I would suggest splitting your items when checking out as you will get a free tumbler (see above). The reason why I suggest splitting it up is because you can only get one tumbler per transaction. There is also a special purple BTS bag you will get when shopping here.
Overall
All in all, I think the pop-up was okay. I was disappointed by the prices but I can’t say I am surprised and I can understand it to an extent. I am happy with the time and day I went because I didn’t have to wait in line nor did I have a time limit when shopping. I would recommend going whenever you can at least once before the store closes on Dec 31st, 2022 but make sure to check out Weverse as well in case you see something you like that’s not there or hesitant about certain products. Also, make sure to ask the people working there any questions you have and I hope the tips in this post does help you if you decide to shop there soon. Let me know your thoughts (especially if you are BTS Army) in the comments below or on social media by following on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook!
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