Woo-Hoo! The world's first ever Simpsons retail stores will be coming to Shanghai and Beijing, according to The Nanfang.
The flagship stores, which will exclusively sell merchandise from the world's longest running cartoon series, are set to open later this year. The Beijing branch will open in March in Sanlitun, while the yet-to-be-disclosed Shanghai location is set to open in June in a "trendy and high traffic mall," per China Daily.
Both stores will occupy around 250 square meters of space and sell more than 200 licensed Simpsons products, including T-shirts, hats, jackets, pants, phone cases, shoes, socks and stationery. Time to spend some D'oh!
Jeffrey Godsick, president of 20th Century Fox Consumer Products, told China Daily that he expects to open 100 Simpsons stores in the future, and that 25 to 50 percent of Simpsons merchandise — which will grow and expand according to the 27-year-old show's seasons — will be sold exclusively through the stores. "We will continue to design individual consumer products for each of our movies and TV shows in China, and ultimately grow our brand as a company," said Godsick. (Note to Godsick and 20th Century Fox: you might want to watch out for counterfeit online sellers).
The decision to open up physical stores was based on the show's growing popularity in China. Though the animated series was only just introduced to the Mainland in 2014 when Sohu bought the rights to stream it online, audiences are already becoming familiar with the cartoon. Fox, which started to collaborate with fashion and other product brands over the past few years on Simpsons merchandise, also saw a growing demand among Chinese consumers for the cartoon's products.
According to The Nanfang, the show has had a "tumultuous reception" in China. In 2005, a controversial episode saw the Simpsons traveling to China. A year later, Western cartoons were temporarily banned from the airwaves in order to "to protect domestic cartoon production." And while the cartoon now streams on Sohu, only its 24th season is available to users.
Up next: a Simpsons theme park? We can only hope.
[Image via 20th Century Fox]
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