Pocket Planet, the immersive miniature world attraction, will be coming to London’s Oxford Street in 2025, with a retail store set to open this summer. 

The idea of Pocket Planet was born seven years ago, after Mark Vlassopulos, the founding director, was fascinated by an exhibit in Hamburg called Miniature Wunderland. He recognised the opportunity to develop something similar in the UK and spent several years planning, finding the right partner to run the retail operation, and eventually securing a location on London’s Oxford Street.

Pocket Planet will be the UK’s largest indoor miniature world and will take visitors on a journey through the UK and around some of the world’s most iconic buildings and landmarks. A miniature airport with a 20-metre runway where planes will take off and land every three minutes is sure to be a highlight, and the remainder of the exhibition space will take visitors on a journey around the world.

Visitors will see scenes small and large, and each of the scenes will feature movement and action – with many of the vehicles and characters to be found in the shop on the way out.

“This gives us a great opportunity to create an amazing indoor miniature world, which we describe as an immersive journey,” said Mark Vlassopulos. “We have secured a triple-A location which we hope will attract 1m visitors per year from our third year.”

“As you pass through the attraction, you’ll be seeing all kinds of amazing things – and hopefully will be stimulated by the miniature exhibits and motivated to purchase when you eventually get to the shop. Of course, the 150-200m people who visit Oxford Street each year and can just wander into the shop without a ticket may also be inspired to buy a ticket for the attraction. We recognised that we needed a really excellent retail partner and that’s why we have formed a partnership with Event Merchandising.”

To read more about Pocket Planet, click here for the full article, which appeared in the January edition of Toy World.