Fans of LINE FRIENDS SQUARE waited in line starting at 8 a.m., on Friday, April 25, at Universal CityWalk Hollywood to be one of the first to enter the brand’s third official U.S. retail location. The other locations are the New York Flagship Store on Broadway, and the LA Flagship store on Hollywood Blvd. A line formed that went around the corner. The first 30 in line received a special LINE FRIENDS SQUARE gift bag filled with curated merchandise.

Dave Lee, Assistant Manager, Digital & Social Marketing shared how LINE FRIENDS SQUARE was created from sticker characters in the messenger application ‘LINE’. The App has over 200 million active users worldwide.

Through various collaborations with global partners such as Minions and Netflix, K-POP artists like NewJeans and K-POP artists-created characters BT21 and TRUZ, it has become a global character brand. 

LINE Friends is a franchise of characters created by LINE Corporation, with notable characters including Brown, Cony, and Sally. The BT21 characters, also part of the LINE FRIENDS family, were co-created with BTS. LINE FRIENDS is winning the hearts of millennials worldwide with the products, animations, games, and more.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony, fans entered to be the first to explore this immersive shopping destination. Many purchased BT21 merchandise, a curated selection of K-pop-inspired character products, plus iconic Universal brand characters from Despicable Me & Minions to DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls and Felix the Cat.

There were giveaways, photo opportunities with Brown, lucky draw cards to win prizes and special gift bags and an opportunity for a store tour for those who attended the event.

LINE FRIENDS SQUARE is located at Universal CityWalk Hollywood, 100 Universal City Plaza, near the entrance of the entertainment park.