Moose Toys launched the tenth season of Shopkins collectibles this month, and the new season commemorates how the whole brand started—as a miniature shopping experience. Shopkins Season 10 Mini Packs come packaged in a miniature version of life-size super market items such as tiny milk cartons, fruit crates, detergent bottles and more, and Shopkins characters from Seasons 1 through 3 are inside, which are all returning with a commemorative medallion.
The Toy Book caught up with Claire McGarry, global head of girls brands at Moose Toys, to talk about the launch of the new season and what’s new for Shopkins this year.
The tenth season of Shopkins is a big milestone! How did the idea come about to go back to the roots of the brand and feature characters from Seasons 1 to 3?
Shopkins is now in its fifth year ,which is an amazing achievement. There are lots of our younger fans who never had the chance to collect the original characters from the early seasons, so, it seemed like a natural fit that we mark our 10th season with the release of a collector’s edition featuring fan favorites from Season 1, 2, and 3. We also decided to make the characters extra special with commemorative collector medallions—meaning if our longer serving fans have the original figure, it is still a new and awesome addition to their collection.
What is new about Shopkins Season 10 that fans will love?
Aside from the value of having the collector medallion original characters—the new collectible mini packaging is an amazing addition to this season! There are more than 80 reusable, collectible mini packs that fans can get their hands on to build their own mini supermarket at home.
What are the other ways that the Shopkins brand has expanded since it first started?
Where to start!? After launching in 2014 with collectible figures, Shopkins expanded with the release of Shoppies dolls in 2015, doll houses came in to play in 2016 with the release of Shopkins Happy Places, then Shopkins Cutie Cars brought the brand in to the vehicle space in 2017. Our latest release will be Shopkins Lil’ Secrets, which is launching in August. It is all about micro play and hidden shop worlds within the world of Shopville. Noting all of the above is in the toy space—the brand has also expanded across licensing, entertainment and digital with a long list of new properties and engagement platforms.
How is Moose keeping Shopkins fresh and kids engaged as they gear up for the milestone 10th season launch?
We have lots of activity planned across our platforms including the launch of our first Shopkins CGI Music Video clip to celebrate Mini Packs and the gang being back together again. We also have the launch of our first ever AR app coming this fall—stay tuned for details soon!
How is the Shopkins brand growing beyond just toys with live shows, animated series, and more?
Shopkins has grown from an item based brand to a fully-fledged kids entertainment franchise—our Shopkins Live! Stage show has expanded now beyond the U.S. with tour schedules reaching Canada, LATAM, and discussions in play for expansion to the UK. We continue to invest in content online with our much loved webisode series and have a vast array of music video clips that we know our fans love! In the licensing space, we have some incredible partners we work with that extend our brand reach beyond the traditional mass merchandising product space like H&M, McDonalds, Build-A-Bear and more. There is certainly lots of activity to keep us busy and we’re not slowing down!
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Stay tuned for more brand announcements soon!
