BTS Yet To Come at Lotte World Mall, Seoul 2022

Today, there is a completely different blog post about an incredible experience that I absolutely had to do considering that I am in Seoul at the moment. Namely, it's about getting hold of official merch from BTS, which will be available in the period from 07-16th of October at Lotte World Mall in Seoul. The occasion is the upcoming BTS concert in Busan on October 15th. This will probably be the last BTS concert for the time being, as the group announced a hiatus from their joint activities in the middle of the year. Still, it doesn't stop fans from staying loyal to their favorite K-Pop group and supporting them in any way they can, even if they have to camp out in front of Lotte World Mall for the night. I want to take you up close and personal with a fan experience and tell you about my 3 day experience at Lotte World Mall.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a passionate BTS fan and have admittedly spent a lot of money on this group. But actually I didn't hear anything from this event for the time being since I simply weren't up to date. It was my friend Celine who put the toxic thought in my head to buy merch. Why toxic? Well, once such a thought is planted in me, I cannot let it go; Because buying BTS merch can be an addiction. Especially if you are in the middle of Seoul and have the chance to be there in person for the first time. Normally, you have the battle online with 200,000 other fans on a merch platform where the merch is sold out in less than a minute. The chances of getting anything are very slim with such a high level of competition, and BTS has a very, very large number of fans. In addition, you save on shipping costs if you buy directly here in Seoul. Unfortunately, shipping costs are usually higher than the actual product itself - at least if you have the products shipped from South Korea to Germany.

So I couldn't resist this chance to buy official tour merch of the upcoming Busan concert "Yet To Come". But I didn't actually go for that. The real reason and real eye-catcher was the resale of the BTS Artist-Made Collection. The BTS Artist-Made Collection is, as the name suggests, a collection designed by the artists themselves. In other words: every BTS member has determined, designed and published their own products; including handbags, hoodies, accessories, mood lamps, etc. The Artist-Made Collection was first released at the beginning of this year and ran for about a month. But most things were sold out after just a few minutes, so the label decided to add a second, then a third round/chance. I didn't want to be so "crazy" back then and get up at 3 a.m and confront myself with the fight of getting merch, so I took what was left over the next day. Luckily for me, I got exactly what I wanted back then: the gray jogging pants from RM. I've been needing new jogging pants for a while now. That was the only thing I could and wanted to get my hands on at the time.

However, ever since back then an initially tiny thought stuck in my head, which has now been further nurtured by the new sale announcement here in Seoul, until the desire was so great that I knew that I would face the fight now. At the time I was like, "Having Jungkook's Zip-Up Hoody in white wouldn't be that bad." But this one sold out immediately every time, so I actually tried to buy it this weekend and ended up buying more than I originally planned. You can see pictures of the Artist-Made Collection below. NOTE: The pictures do not belong to me, they are taken from the official HYBE website / (https://twitter.com/hybe_merch/status/1486972351652655109)

To get the merch, you had to register in front of the Lotte World Mall between 9 and 10:30 a.m. - with a Korean cell phone number. The mall and thus the BTS store is open from 10:30 a.m to 10 p.m., but on the first day the merch didn’t even survive until 3 p.m. When Celine told me about it for the first time on friday, I was still sleepy in bed, jumped up immediately and didn't show up at the mall until around 12.30 p.m., because unfortunately it takes me about an hour to get there by public transport. By then she had already fought the battle of eternal waiting and had already registered herself and me. But we were both too late and it would've been just too easy that way. Celine got there around 11 a.m. and took out the number 856 for me and herself. Accordingly, 800 people had already been in line before us and so the merch will of course be sold out long before we even make it into the store. That was the case then. Around 2 p.m. most of the items were already sold out and the number was just 220. At 7 p.m. we got a message on our cell phone that we were finally allowed to enter the store. Of course we had long since gone home with a lesson to learn from.

Since the merch is fortunately replenished daily (however, a staff member informed us that the quantity of goods is different/undetermined every day) , I decided to try again the next day. What I didn't know is that this would mean that I had to be in front of the store as early as possible just to get the lowest possible number, which would mean that I could be one of the first to enter the store. I had never had such an experience. I knew how crazy other fans could be, but actually decided to never be like that. In reality, this looks very different. If you are suddenly faced with this opportunity and you really want it, then the internal pressure becomes so enormous that you will do anything to relax a little. Even if relaxation means camping out in front of the mall and knowing you can get the merch you want. When I found out via Twitter that the first fans were already queuing for the next day at 6 p.m. already, I couldn't turn a blind eye. Thoughts like "should I have camped too?" chased me so I only slept about 3 hours and around 3:30 in the night I got ready, had breakfast and decided to take a taxi to the mall (Seoul subway only runs until 12 at night and then again from 5:30 a.m).

Fully packed, warmly dressed and prepared for everything, I ordered the taxi around 5 o'clock. I don't know if this wasn't a stress I could have saved myself. Because apparently I ordered the taxi somewhere else, so that the driver didn't find me at first. Many calls in Korean went back and forth until I was forced to speak to two Koreans on the street, who helped me to guide the taxi driver to me. Meanwhile, at 5:30 a.m., I finally got into the taxi and drove another 30 minutes to the mall - with an overtired driver who almost fell asleep the whole time and therefore kept moving wildly in his seat and slapping his leg hard, in order not to fall asleep. Nonetheless, he went off track several times and I got so scared I couldn't even breathe easily. Luckily I arrived safely and just in time, because more and more people were gathering behind me, so that it would not have been worthwhile to come and sit in line otherwise. So here I was, sitting here at 6 a.m. in an already full line, around number 150, on the cold floor, got my second breakfast, snacks and laptop and watched a movie first. The sun was slowly rising in front of me and I got to watch a beautiful sunrise - a nice rarity for me. The cold and the long wait were less nice because I still had a good 3 hours until registration. But why am I complaining, because there were completely exhausted, overtired people sitting next to me who had been camping in front of the mall all night.

Around 8 a.m. the queue was already endless and two girls started counting people and writing numbers on their hands. Finally I got my number - 143. However, I didn't understand why we got this number and for what, because we still had to register anyway. I later found out that two simple fans did the numbering that was later used by the staff to organize the line so no one could push in front of us and spoil the campers' hard work. Apparently "the first in line always do it like that" - I weren't aware of this. But the two girls had miscounted, because the number on my hand was ultimately different from the registration number. It was number 119 then. And there I already knew that I would have a good chance of getting what I wanted. Celine arrived in the meantime, but since she had missed the numbering, which incidentally was not done on the first day, she was no longer allowed to stand next to me. I promised her that I would try to get something for her. So we still had some time and had breakfast in a cafe. From then on, we only had to wait until about 11:15 am when I was finally in line on my way to the store. All around there were a lot of people, even some who hadn't taken a number just to watch. Say - it was full. Some curious people asked us why we are standing in line and if something important is coming up. But we could only answer "We stand here for BTS Merch" - people must have really thought that the new iPhone is coming onto the market.

But here I was, standing in line on my way to buy some official merch. Through the glass pane I could already see that there was still the hoody I wanted and much, much more. At around 12 o'clock I was finally allowed to enter the shop and the wait was finally over - it was 6 hours in total.

Arrived in the shop, I thought "quickly, quickly" before something is gone. So I rushed to the corner where Jungkook's hoody would be. The black one was almost sold out, but there were still plenty of white ones available. There were about 15 of each color and about 5 of each size. So you can imagine how little there was of everything and why things are sold out so incredibly quickly. If you want Taehyung's bag, you should definitely be one of the first in line since it's only available four times per day and sells out in the first two minutes along with Jungkook's Mood Lamp, RM's Windchime and Hobi's handbag. These four are by far the most popular items, followed by Jimin's hoodie and earrings, then Jungkook's hoodie and SUGA's necklace and notebook. RM's jogging pants and Jin's pajamas are pretty much always leftovers, just like the army bombs, which only cost around €30 in South Korea and around €100 in Germany, and the tour merch, which actually isn't that great either. So I bought a hoody and also two Army Bombs (JKs Hoody costs 135.000 KRW and one army bomb 39.000 KRW), one for me and one for Celine, who unfortunately couldn't make it to the store that day. Unfortunately, all the items she wanted that day were also already sold out, so I couldn't bring her anything but an army bomb.

That's why I made my way to the mall today for the third day in a row; namely to support my friend to get her desired merch that she would want to give to her sister. However, I only came later, because I no longer had to enter the shop itself and so I waited outside. Since she was interested in Jimin's earrings, she had to get to the store even earlier than I did, as this merch is pretty much one of the first ones to sell out. But hard work pays off as she got number 39 and with a bit of luck she snatched the last few earrings before they sold out. Meanwhile I have deciced to want more, so she also bought the Guitarpick-necklace from SUGA, my bias, for me (for 89.000 KRW for just one necklace, not two). I didn't think SUGAs merch was that great in this collection, but I couldn't reconcile myself with Celine leaving the store without having bought something for me, too. And in the end I'm very happy about it, because now that I'm wearing the necklace, I don't regret it a bit - it's super chic and makes a clear statement together with the hoody - I'm a proud BTS fan!

As you have already heard, all the effort was definitely worth it. It's not something I do every day so it was worth this experience because I won't be in Seoul forever. Would I do something like this again in the future? Certainly. Where there's a chance and a will, there's a way - of course only if it's worth it for me and if I really like the things that are being sold. Just to own something, I really don't like to do something like camping and driving myself crazy. Still, I feel sorry for anyone interested in V, Jimins, and Hobis merch. I saw from my own experience over the weekend and even on the fourth day (Monday) heard from a friend that even being number 26 in line the guarantee of getting the merch is very slim. You really have to be among the first 10 in line for that, so you can't avoid camping, probably from 6 p.m. the day before. However, you really have to consider whether it's worth it.

The only thing that hurts a bit now is the money spent. My wallet is crying because of the almost 300€ I've spent within two days. However, this is nothing compared to some fans before me, who sometimes even left 800,000 KRW, i.e. almost 700€ for merch in the store or even more. Because I also saw fans with four full bags, taking everything they could get their hands on. But note: the items are limited in purchase. You could buy photo cards or photo albums as well as the army bomb up to twice per person, while you could only buy an item from the Artist-Made Collection once (i.e. 1x hoody, 1x necklace, 1x earrings, etc.). And yet the fans managed to stuff their bags to the brim. Crazy world.
I have never been confronted with anything like this until today. The fact that fans argue about items, scream through the store, make a riot, complain, cry and camp in front of the department store until they finally get their merch, that's really next level. All the better are the moments with other fans who have stayed down-to-earth and with whom you were able to have a relaxed chat while waiting together. After all, we're all in this together... :)

If you want to take a look at my newest Merch addition, there you go. If there are any more questions, feel free to contact me through the contact form on my website.