Niki Chung of Burnaby, B.C., lined up at 7 p.m. the evening before the opening of the Hello Kitty Cafe Vancouver, in order to be the first visitor inside on May 17.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
Even before she arrived, she was already everywhere. She dangled off bags as a keychain, poked out of Crocs as a shoe charm. She was crystallized on nail art, emblazoned on jeans and sweatshirts, painted on a Louis Vuitton purse.
This was the grand opening of the Hello Kitty Cafe in downtown Vancouver last month, where hundreds, from the mildly curious to the superfans, lined up to visit the first Canadian location and to meet Hello Kitty herself. Strategically located on the trendy Robson Street, and just a few blocks from other Japanese goods stores, this is the latest character-themed cafe from parent company Sanrio, after two locations in California and one in Las Vegas.
Hundreds of people lined up on opening day for the Hello Kitty Cafe Vancouver.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
Niki Chung, left, and Kitty Jones, right, pose with self-described Hello Kitty enthusiast and collector, Marisa Sopel.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
Walk into the cafe and be enveloped in a sea of pink, complete with details such as Hello Kitty’s signature bow on everything from the walls to the seating. At the counter, you can order a taiyaki ice cream – soft serve in a pastry cone shaped like Hello Kitty – along with other themed treats such as cakes, coffees or bubble tea. And, let’s be honest, no one is leaving here without picking up some Vancouver-specific Hello Kitty merch, be it a mug, baseball cap or tote bag.
First to enter on opening day were Kitty Jones, 33, and Niki Chung, 38, two lifelong fans who had queued overnight. Chung’s passion for Hello Kitty sparks joy, she said. The two friends met on Instagram and bonded over their mutual love for the cartoon cat, and soon found others like them in online communities, such as the Facebook group Behind The Bow, which has almost 80,000 members.
“It’s just exciting because before finding the groups I actually thought that I was weird or something,” said Jones. But after meeting other merch collectors, she feels like she fits right in.
Even those who aren’t enthusiasts are familiar with Hello Kitty’s brand of adorable. Since her arrival on the scene in 1974 as a character created to sell merchandise, she has become ubiquitous worldwide and now in her 50th year, her popularity is on the rise again. Google searches have been on a steady increase in the U.S. and Canada, after a lull in the later half of the 2010s. She boasts 3.2 million followers on TikTok and 4 million on Instagram.
And she is big money. With sales of US$84.5-billion as of 2021, she’s one of the most valuable media franchises in the world, according to Statista, just behind Pokemon and ahead of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is great for Sanrio, the Japanese company who created her along with her “friends,” a cast of other overwhelmingly cute characters with their own lines of merch and licensing opportunities. After a stretch of red, earnings reports show North American contribution profits to headquarters are back in the black. In the background was Sanrio’s leadership change, when founder and longtime CEO Shintaro Tsuji passed on the reins to his millennial grandson, Tomokuni Tsuji in July 2020.
In Toronto, this spring, Hello Kitty was the star of a Blue Jays game with a bobble-head giveaway, one of her many sports collaborations with the MLB and NBA. Online, CBC Gem aired her latest animated shorts series, Hello Kitty: Super Style!, which features a theme song by Carly Rae Jepsen.
How has this cat (or as some see her, girl) lived so many lives?
Hello Kitty Cafe Vancouver, the first-ever Hello Kitty themed-cafe in Canada, opened the doors at its Robson street location on May 17.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
Helen Frausto flew in from California to attend the opening.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
Carmen Tham of Vancouver shows off her Louis Vuitton Hello Kitty purse.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
In Japan, Hello Kitty debuted in the ‘70s just as “girl commodity culture” was on the rise, says Christine R. Yano, professor of anthropology at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. If you put a cute element (say, a bow) on a utilitarian object (say, a notebook) then it would appeal to young, female consumers. In North America, she was first stocked in communities such as Chinatown or Japantown. “You have a lot of pride and identification with Hello Kitty amongst Asian Americans, but then when she leaped out of those enclaves to more generalized markets,” said Yano, referring to department stores and malls, “that’s when the phenomenon really took off.”
Hello Kitty is associated with kawaii, Japanese for the culture and aesthetic of cute, but Yano differentiates between the English word “cute,” which she sees as one-dimensional, with the Japanese “kawaii,” which is multi-layered. It’s self-aware, a knowing wink that allows for contradictions, such as the same item appealing to both a five year old and their mother. “You can be cute, innocent, sexy, provocative all at once.”
In her 2013 book, Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across The Pacific, Yano writes about the character’s “carefully constructed design of aestheticized, feminized blankness,” which allows her to fit into whatever high, low or in-between industry she’s licensed to, whether her face is stretched into a $2,000 Balenciaga bag or printed on a $12 tote from Forever 21.
Noel Deza of Burnaby, B.C., waits for his wife while she shops. Christine R. Yano writes about Hello Kitty's 'carefully constructed design of aestheticized, feminized blankness.'Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
She obviously appeals to kids, but Yano says there is strong product loyalty among adults, too. This speaks to their nostalgia for childhood belongings.
At the cafe, Chung says when she was a kid, Hello Kitty was a reward from her mom for good behaviour. She remembers going to Chinatown and painstakingly choosing just one stationery item. Nowadays, her collection is in the hundreds, potentially thousands (she’s afraid to count), but she wishes she still had her red pencil case from back then. Her mom has since passed away, but Chung said she feels connected to her through Hello Kitty.
“It’s something that brings me back to childhood. It’s special.”
When Hello Kitty finally arrived (with her handlers, no less), the crowd eagerly snapped pics as she posed and waved to her fans. She may be a costumed proxy, but she sparks joy all the same.
Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail