KStars Manchester: ‘ATEEZ Toward the Light: Will to Power’ Pop-Up shop

We took a look inside Manchester’s only K-pop store’s ATEEZ pop up.

Leaving a message for ATEEZ.

The end of January saw ATINY from around the world take over Manchester for ATEEZ at the AO arena. My first stop when I arrived in Manchester was straight to the KStars store to see what I could find.

At 7.00pm the queue was trailing through the store and around the corner on the street. Staff were so helpful, taking the time out to give me a quick look around. However, as the store had stayed open past closing hours to accommodate ATINY’s attendance I thought it would be better to check it out the next day. The staff were kind enough to arrange a little tour for me so I decided to head back in the morning. 

While I was expecting the store to be busy I had no idea just how busy it was going to be. The queue for the store was clearly visible while walking up Deansgate and, just like the night before, filled with smiling ATINY. What I wasn’t expecting was the queue to be so long that staff were redirecting people across the street and all the way down Blackfriars Street. 

Following the queue inside I was welcomed by merch from everybody’s favourite K-pop bands neatly organised. At the top of the shop’s neon lit staircase was a room filled with ATEEZ inspired things to do. 

An ATEEZ inspire photo-op.

The main thing ATINY were queuing for was the KStars offline lucky draw event, allowing customers to enter into a prize draw based on the purchase of the ‘Golden Hour: Part. 2’ album. 

The center of the room had a beautifully decorated table covered in diamonds fitting the backing track of ice on my teeth perfectly. When customers were finished queuing for the raffle they were able to grab a photo op with the life sized ATEEZ backdrop.

In the corner among a claw machine and a photo booth was a small area to leave a message to ATEEZ on a cute diamond shaped post it note (I made sure to leave a little message from all of us here at Cherry Chu). 

Fans could leave a note for ATEEZ.

My personal favourite part of the event was the cafe selling customized drinks based on the members of ATEEZ. The cleverly named drinks featured Captain in Blue (Hongjoong), Starhwa (Seonghwa), YUYU (Yunho), Doberman (YeoSang), Byeolberry (San), That’s a W (Wooyoung), Jjongbear (Jongho) and ultimately the best named drink up there; Mingi’s Mix On. For £3.50 you could grab yourself your favourite drink and a free photocard of the corresponding member. 

By far I have to say the most amazing part of the store’s revamp for ATEEZ was the commissioned artwork by @SHE.DRAWSSSS whose artwork is particularly well known amongst ATINY. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to meet them while they were handing out their golden ticket themed photocard freebies. But being able to catch a glance at the banners of their art work or their Jujutsu Kaisen collection of ATEEZ was a wonderful experience. 

Artwork by @SHE.DRAWSSSS.

KStars also hosted a pop up event outside of the store for the same purpose which I didn’t get a chance to visit but after attending this event I’m so excited about more opportunities to head back and take a closer look at their other pop ups. 

Thank you KStars!

Edited by Chelsea Cheetham.