Molli Botnick Schiffer (center) with parents Harris and Geri Botnick.
MOLLI BOTNICK SCHIFFER began to catch a case of Labubu fever around the time she noticed that both Rihanna and style icon Marci Hirshleifer Penn, ultra-cool owner of luxury fashion retailer Hirshleifers, had been photographed with those odd, elfish dolls dangling from their designer Birkin bags.
Schiffer is the fashion-conscious daughter of Harris and Geri Botnick, who own Worthmore Jewelers in Atlanta. Her official title at Worthmore is “Social Media Mensch.”
In addition to their celeb cachet, Schiffer says, “Labubus are just so silly and so much fun you can’t help but smile when you see them.”
Labubu is a plush doll based on a smirking, pointy-eared character from “The Monsters” series, created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung and inspired by Nordic mythology. The creatures are produced and sold by the Chinese company Pop Mart, primarily through a “blind-box” model where the specific character inside is a mystery. Simply unboxing a single Labubu on video can attract intense social media scrutiny. Demand often exceeds supply, leading to long lines at stores and high resale prices, particularly for rare editions. Brand new from Pop Mart they’re priced at $30 each, but they must be purchased in sets, driving up the price. Some sell for $250 or more at resale.
So Labubus were already on Schiffer’s radar in June 2025 when she pointed out to her parents that a designer at the JCK Las Vegas jewelry show was giving them away as a gift with purchase. She suggested they do the same at their two locations of Worthmore Jewelers as part of the business’s 32nd anniversary celebration last August.
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Her parents began to concede that the Labubu was more than just another tchotchke that had caught their daughter’s eye.
“I asked her to repeat herself several times and then spell it for me,” Harris Botnick says. “When I saw the packaging and how limited the availability is, it fascinated me from a business aspect. I was also jealous that I did not think of it first!”
Schiffer says Labubus work with the Worthmore vibe and culture, which has always been fun and experimental. “My parents are always thinking about ways to reach out to the community, particularly the younger generation. So, I think they thought, ‘Let’s go for it.’ They ordered a whole crate of them.”
Schiffer generated anticipation for the event through Reddit, Instagram and word of mouth. She posted a good deal of content featuring the Labubu crew lurking in the background of photos, essentially dropping hints leading up to the announcement.
“It’s hard to get your hands on one and be sure they are authentic,” Schiffer says. “They’re so niche and so unavailable that people are willing to spend $250 on a fluffy key chain.”
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They gave away about 50 Labubus to customers who purchased a piece of jewelry from one of the featured designers at the event or spent $500 on anything else in the store.
Says Schiffer: “We had generations of our customers coming in with their kids or their grandmothers, and it was really funny to show them what the Labubus were. The energy! I wish we could have bottled that up. It was amazing.”
“It was absolutely perfect,” Botnick agrees. “Getting to watch our excited clients open the box and the inner wrapping to see which one they got was priceless.”
Schiffer learned from her parents to “always trust your gut,” a motto she put into practice when planning the Labubu festivities. “I tell my customers that all the time. Wait for the warm fuzzies. We want our customers to be obsessed with what they’re buying and know in their hearts it is the right move.”
Working in the family business, she says, has created a safe space to explore ideas that are a little bit off the wall. “They always have been and have always wanted to be different,” she says of her entrepreneurial parents. “They’ve been incredibly supportive and wanting to pivot and grow and change the business. I love what we’ve created.”
