Shopkins are a range of tiny, cute collectable toys manufactured by Moose Toys. Based on grocery store items, each plastic Shopkin figure has a recognizable face and unique name. They also have special finishes like translucent, glitter, or squishy. The collectable toys (which are designated as common, rare, ultra-rare, special edition, limited edition, and exclusive) also expanded into lines of clothing, trading cards, and other related merchandise.
Shopkins was originally developed as a successor to Mighty Beanz and Trash Pack.[1] The toy line was first released in 2014.[2][3] As of 2025, there are seventeen seasons of the toys. There are also series that represent holidays, such as Halloween, Easter, and Christmas. There are also spin-offs, such as the Kindi Kids line of dolls, which was released in August of 2019.
History
Shopkins were designed and developed by Moose Toys in Melbourne in April 2013. Co-chief Paul Solomon credits his mother, Jacqui Tobias, director of girls’ products, for the idea of Shopkins.[4] Moose Toys had success with its line of Mighty Beanz and Trash Pack collectible figurines targeted towards boys, but it lacked a market for girls.[1] Shopkins was initially produced as a similar product for girls; however, it appeals to children in general.[5][6]
The success of the Shopkins toy line later led to various types of official merchandise, apps, three movies, music, and spin-offs. Additionally, there were also auction Shopkins on eBay, San Diego Comic-Con exclusive sets, and more.
Shopkins toys
Figures
Shopkins figurines are about 1 inch in height and 1/2 inch in width, roughly the size of a United States quarter. Each figurine has a face, a name, and its own personality. They are distributed in bright coloured packaging with bubble letters.[7] Shopkins are based on grocery items: for example, there is a sweet apple named Apple Blossom, a chocolate bar named Cheeky Chocolate, a lipstick named Lippy Lips, a chocolate chip cookie named Kooky Cookie, and a strawberry named Strawberry Kiss.[8][9] There are hundreds of Shopkins in the Shopkins World.[10] Shopkins are organized into categories, such as Fruit & Veg and Bakery. They can be found in a variety of packs; 2, 5, 12, and Mega (20) packs are the most well known. However, for a limited time, 10-packs were sold during Season 1.
Spin-offs
Shopkins Shoppies
Shopkins Shoppies, the first spin-off of Shopkins released in October 2015, is a line of 5-inch dolls featuring teenage girls with brushable, colourful hair, accessories, exclusive Shopkins entitled Shopkins B.F.F.S. and have themes such as food, flowers, animals, and fashion. The dolls also come with VIP codes (which are cards or mini magazines, or secret diaries [Lil’ Secrets only] depending on the line), which can be used for the Shopkins World app. The original line consisted of three dolls, Jessicake, Bubbleisha and Popette, respectively, later add two new Shoppies, Peppa-Mint and Donatina, in December 2015. Separate lines of the dolls were also produced, including Core Shoppies and Style Shoppies. Some were also found in various seasons. Special Edition dolls were also made, with the first being Gemma Stone, named after the audition Shopkin of the same name, was released as a Walmart exclusive in November 2016 for a Black Friday sale. Beginning in 2018, with second Special Edition Shoppie Chandelia, Special Edition Shoppies were released every year, starting in October, and as Target exclusives. Starting in 2016, Limited Edition Shoppies were also available during events in San Diego Comic-Con until 2018. After the release of Kindi Kids, the series would be silently discontinued; their final Shoppie, Wynter Frost, was released in October 2020.
Shoppies
Core Shoppies
Style Shoppies
Chef Club
Join The Party
World Vacation
Media
Web series
In August 2014, Moose Toys built brand awareness with their Shopkins short cartoon videos on their YouTube channel Shopkins World (now known as MooseTube Squad to promote other toys by Moose),[5] but it was the YouTube videos of consumers unwrapping and playing with the toys that helped bring the line to mainstream prominence.[12][13] The series was released on June 23, 2014. Canadian-based WildBrain distributes the webisodes on the WildBrain - Cutie Cartoons channel. The series would end on October 4, 2018, after 85 episodes during the release of Season 10.
Movies
An animated film, called Shopkins: Chef Club, was released on Digital HD on October 18, 2016, and on DVD on October 25, 2016, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, to promote toys for Season 6.
Licensed merchandise
Clothing
Various lines for Shopkins and Kindi Kids-inspired clothing for kids were made. T-shirts were also made to the Shopkins Direct subscription box. There were also accessories, bags, makeup, and other related content made available.
Cereal
In 2019, Kellogg's produced Shopkins themed cereal based on the playset-exclusive Cutie O’s mini pack released during Season 12. Each cereal box features different play scenes, allowing people to collect all 5.
Books and magazines
Moose Toys partnered up with book publishers such as Scholastic and Simon and Schuster to launch a series of children's books featuring Shopkins such as Scholastic's Shopkins: Welcome to Shopville.[18] Colouring and activity books were also available.
Counterfeit Shopkins
Counterfeit Shopkins began to surface around mid-2015, including those with Funny Sweet or Shopkinsins on the packaging, which can refer to Shopkins in colors that Moose Toys never officially produced, such as Boo Hoo Onion being light blue and Chee Zee being orange. Arms and other parts might be broken, and paint could easily chip off. In response to this, Moose made an official video on the Shopkins official YouTube channel about how to spot counterfeit Shopkins.[21] A number of sellers on websites offer counterfeit Shopkins that can include item pictures with Shopkins branding, most likely as a way to avoid the listing being taken away under intellectual property policies of the website and/or store.
In popular culture
Shopkins served as inspiration for a design challenge on season 16 of Project Runway.[25]
The Shoppies dolls, Jessicake, Bubbleisha and Peppa-Mint, along with some of the Season 6 playsets were featured in an episode of the adult animated stop motion sketch comedy TV series Robot Chicken.
Sacha Baron Cohen's character OMGWhizzBoyOMG!, in his satire series Who Is America?, unboxed Shopkins while interviewing political figures.[26]
In 2019, there were videos featuring the Shoppies line of dolls, made using a popular app known as Gacha Life. A popular fandom on YouTube features the Shoppies doll, Jessicake, who is meant to be on the dark side.
The Real Littles series of Shopkins (Seasons/Series 12-14) gained popularity on social media platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts, with some unboxing videos of them gaining millions of views, alongside a similar toy brand, 5 Surprise Mini Brands, by Zuru.
See also
- Moose Toys, the company that makes Shopkins
- The Trash Pack/The Grossery Gang, a similar toy line that the Shopkins line of toys was based on
- Enchantimals, a doll line inspired by the Shoppies dolls
- Cassandra Lee Morris, provides voice notably for Jessicake
- Erika Harlacher, provides voice for many characters in the Shopkins franchise, most notably Bubbleisha
External links
References
- How Manny Stul overcame disaster to save Moose Toys Australian Financial Review, April 22, 2016^
- Shopkins™ Is The Biggest Tiny Toy Crossing Retail Registers, With Season Two Characters To Continue Sales Momentum PR Newswire, 24 November 2014, retrieved 23 June 2018^
- 2015 to be a strong year for Shopkins