When Peyton Rushton saw that Canadian K-Pop store chain LightUpK teased a collaboration with STAYC, one of her favorite groups, she assumed it would come with an exclusive pre-order photocard. Little did she know it would give her the opportunity to virtually chat with STAYC’s Sumin less than two months later. 

“You don’t understand it until you’ve had [that experience],” Rushton said on Zoom from Calgary, Alberta. “It’s so crazy to be able to meet these people.”

Rushton won a fan call, which allows individuals to briefly converse with their favorite idols through video call. Customers enter fan calls through buying an artist’s merchandise through a participating retailer and/or distributor, and their purchases go towards a randomized raffle. Stores often offer special benefits, such a store-exclusive photocard, to incentivize people to apply for the calls.  

These fan calls often happen on Asian messaging platforms such as LINE or KakaoTalk, and usually last between one-to-two minutes depending on the nature of the event. Fan calls where the winner chats with all the group members run shorter individually, while those with a singular artist last longer. However, these opportunities are often locked to the Asian market. Fan calls hosted by stores outside of Asia remain rare.

Ontario-Based K-Pop Stores Answer the Call

Canadian K-Pop stores started getting involved with fancalls in 2022. Online store Pluedo, which opened in June that year, hosted its first fan call event with AleXa. Pluedo was one of many stores to host a fan call for her first EP Girls Gone Vogue on December 1, 2022. Some other retailers like SarangHello in America and KPOPINUK in the United Kingdom also hosted this event.

Pluedo owner Andy Tran said the opportunity came through KpopAgent, a wholesaler that provides services for over 100 K-Pop stores globally. The event specifically catered towards international fans, and used Google Meet as the chatting platform. The opportunity came as a surprise considering Pleudo’s newly-established operations. Tran said many local customers expressed their gratitude for the event. 

“Since there [weren’t] that many online K-Pop stores in Canada back then, being able to offer such an opportunity to speak with K-Pop idols and such is really cool.” Tran said. 

LightUpK hosted the first Canadian store-exclusive fan call event with STAYC on February 2. The company started off as a K-Beauty business venture that branched out into K-Pop in 2022. The Kraze spoke to LightUpK CEO Jo Kim and chief communications officer Anne Shea on Zoom from the store’s Toronto location.  

Kim said the STAYC event came about through discussions with business partners. When Kim travels to South Korea, he meets with other businesses who want “opportunities in North America.” He calls these deals mutually beneficial.

“It will be a good experience, not just for the smaller or mid-sized artists in Korea, but also for Canadian fans,” he said. 

He said also that when groups come to Canada, they want to work with LightUpK because of their dedicated following. Prior to hosting this international fan call, LightUpK also supported local fan organizations and even helped out with events like JUST B and Yoon Jisung’s joint Canada concert in 2022.  

Kim said the STAYC fan call event helped progress the company’s goal of engaging with artists to create “opportunities for Canadian fans.” To him, LightUpK’s purpose ultimately comes from increasing accessibility of K-Pop in Canada. 

“You know, running a business is important.” Kim said. “But if we can cut costs for people to participate in these events, those are things we want to achieve as a company.”

The ease of purchasing from a domestic business made Rushton “excited” to order albums by herself.  Though Rushton won another fan call with STAYC’s Sieun in the past, an online seller helped apply on her behalf. She felt impressed by the options offered for the fan call, especially since LightUpK gave away free entries through social media. Of the 120 winners, some won with no purchase needed. 

“I had multiple friends apply for Isa, the most popular member, and win with one [social media] entry,” Rushton said. 

LightUpK’s partnerships do not end there. It also collaborated with American store Kpop Bestie in June to host an American-Canadian fan call event for DKZ. With two well-established stores teaming up on both sides of the border, Shea said the collaboration was the “best of both worlds.” 

Big Opportunities in British Columbia

On the Western side of Canada, another collaboration was happening. Vancouver-based store Amuse Ground hosted a video fan sign event with NMIXX on February 20. Amuse Ground originally started in 2008 as the Canadian branch of the ARTBOX brand in Korea, but has since transformed into so much more. Emily Lim, Amuse Ground’s manager of external relations and special events, describes the company as not just a store, but a place to connect with local K-Pop fans. 

“I always feel like ARTBOX in Korea is more focused on just being a store that provides you with cute goods and whatnot.” Lim said. “While we do kind of participate in providing those items for people, we also very much stress the importance of community and connection.” 

The store hosts events such as photocard trading, and even official events like BTS V’s <ARTSPACE: TYPE 1> photo exhibition in July. Like LightUpK, the opportunity to host the NMIXX fan sign event came from Amuse Ground’s discussions with their partners. Both stores worked with the artists’ respective companies, High Up Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, and Copan Global, the world’s largest K-Pop goods maker and wholesaler. Copan Global operates its storefront under the name WITHMUU.  

Lim said Korean companies look at the turnout in Vancouver for these K-Pop events and see a demand there. 

“They kind of get to gauge, like, ‘oh, that’s so cool to see there’s an audience in Vancouver,’” Lim said. 

Caprice Tjandra won Amuse Ground’s fan call event and got to chat with NMIXX’s Jiwoo. Tjandra applied while she resided in Vancouver as an international student. The Kraze caught up with her through Zoom from her home in Indonesia. 

Though the fan call was open internationally, she said less global fans likely knew about this compared to established Korean stores offering similar opportunities. Amuse Ground’s status as a relatively small retailer meant she felt more locals tried their luck. 

Out of the 90 winners, 30 applied using phone numbers local to the store's province. In fact, one of those was the author of this article. I applied and ended up winning a call with Bae. Amuse Ground was not aware of this fact until months later, so the call was not granted to me as a journalist.  

“I believe you have a higher chance to win,” Tjandra said. “And you’re also supporting a local business as well.”

Having won fan calls with other idols previously, she noted that the application process is not always friendly to international fans. She said international fans often face language barriers and large shipping expenses, which lead many to outsource other ways to get merchandise. 

“Since I’m not fluent in Korean or Japanese, I use an Indonesian proxy to purchase from those sites.” she said. 

Amuse Ground also used the NMIXX fan call event to launch their album recycling program by offering an inclusions-only purchase option. This came at a reduced price, and only included the random goodies in the album. 

“As fans and in our personal lives, we also see what happens to those hundreds of albums,” she said. “And a lot of the time, they’re just kind of discarded into garbage and not recycled properly.” 

The albums get recycled in an eco-friendly way, or recycled within the K-Pop community through the physical stores’ donation bins.  

In addition to reducing waste from unwanted albums, Lim hopes it also offers a cost-effective option for both domestic and international customers. She said customers can “stay tuned” for more events in the works.  

“We look forward to continuing to bridge that gap between the east and the west, and bringing more of the Korean culture to a global scale.”

Edited by Bryn Claybourne