The Galleria Department Store in Apgujeong-dong, southern Seoul, held a special event for the toy brand “Kinki Robot” in May. During the two-hour-long event, about 100 “kidult” customers gathered and purchased toys worth a combined 10 million won ($8,600).

Inspired by the surprise success, the retailer opened a kidult toy chain store Replica in its luxury floor space. According to the store, the number of daily visitors is some 100 and most of them are adults.

“Most of them are males in their 30s or 40s. During the weekend, there are visits by groups,” said a store official.

Commonly referring to grown-ups who indulge in hobbies usually associated with children, kidults are surfacing as a crucial group of consumers in a vast range of markets including toys, movies, games, cosmetics, clothes and books.

In the toy market alone, adult hobbyists have created a 500 billion won industry, according to market sources.

Kidults are often lavish consumers eager to pay exorbitant amounts for their beloved playthings.

For example, the bestseller Death Star Lego set from the Star Wars series costs 635,000 won. A plastic model of the West German antiaircraft tank Flakpanzer Gepard costs 465,600 won, while a Ferrari die-cast car model costs 840,000 won ($753.34). A miniature radio-controlled tank can cost up to 2 million won at I’Park Mall in Yongsan, central Seoul.

“It’s going to be a lie if I say the prices are not a hit on my wallet,” says Kim Sung-wan, 39, head of on and offline Lego community Bricksworld.

“But I put aside other activities like partying and expensive clothing so the toy prices don’t take my life away.”

The sentiment explains the soaring sales of kidult toys.

I’Park Mall, which operates the Toy and Hobby store for kidults, said sales of radio-controlled toys more widely used by adults soared 27.3 percent in May and 21.7 percent in June from last year.

The AR Drone helicopter, built by the French company Parrott, sold almost 100 units in a month, more than double from last year.

During the same period, Tamiya, a Japanese manufacturer of radio-controlled or RC cars, saw its sales surge 31.6 percent and 34.5 percent. Their scale model cars worth 1 million won sold more than 50 units in a month.

Online sales are growing even faster, according to the online shopping mall Auction.

In May and June, sales of radio-controlled toys jumped 95 percent from a year ago. Especially, parts sales for RC cars soared more than fivefold.

Cultivating juvenile tastes in products also can be profitable, as some toy collections are traded at much higher prices than the original purchase price.

“Prices of limited editions can be up to 30 percent more expensive. But there’s always demand for them. Many kidults are willing to pay the price,” said an official at an online auction company.

There are some 300 online communities for Korea’s kidults. They are presumed to have 10,000 to 50,000 members, most of whom are believed to be in their 20s or 30s, though there are also many 40-somethings, marketers say. 

By Lee Ji-yoon and Jeong Hunny
(jylee@heraldcorp.com) (hj257@heraldcorp.com)