I came by for day 1 of the ZO&FRIENDS popup at this Line Store on September 5th, which happened to be the only day of the popup that had merchandise since stock was so limited. We arrived around noon and opted to start waiting because a very nice staffer was at the end of the line informing everyone who came later in the day what the inventory inside the shop looked like. He said that at our spot, we would be guaranteed at least the option of buying the keyrings and stickers if we wanted, and that turned out to be true! Staffers did a great job of constantly coming out to check on the line and counting people to make sure the inventory of the last remaining items would be available for everyone waiting in the heat.
Why three stars? First off, unfortunately there were only two POS machines inside the Line store processing purchases for the popup, so it moved unbearably slow. All told, we were probably 150 people back in the line when we arrived and it took 2.5 hours for us to get to the front. It got slightly faster the more items sold out, and I understand that people get into the store and want to linger to take in the popup decor and watch the video of GD they had playing along one wall, but it was just pretty miserable waiting for almost 3 hours in the sun. When I finally got inside the store I saw a third register that could have been processing orders at the counter but for some reason that one went unused most of the day. IMO using that register to process more sales could've helped move the line a lot faster.
I only wanted the keyrings and stickers anyway, so it didn't bother me too much that those were the only available items left when we got into the store, but it's crazy to me that stock for all items was so limited that a popup meant to stretch till the end of the month only had enough merchandise to sell for one day. Just seems like poor planning to leave that much money on the table, especially since Line should already know by now how KPOP fans are with merch. The kind staffer who checked up on the line while we were waiting did say he's pretty sure these items will be restocked online at some point, which is good, but it just seems like there was no foresight in the decision to only bring 300 keyrings for each character (and that was the high end of non-sticker item stock)! I'm sure it's not a decision the store itself is involved in, but hopefully in the future corporate will take these issues into account. read more