photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Susan Deng, co-owner of Momoko Gift Boutique, demonstrates one of the store's carnival-like games.

A wise pool hall philosopher once said “Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.” So it is with money — and evidently with Hello Kitty, too.

Yes, everybody from toddlers to college sorority groups are flocking to the new downtown Lawrence shop Momoko Gift Boutique, 714 Massachusetts St., to win them some Hello Kitty. The shop, which used to house a Lululemon, is full of everything from water bottles to key chains to stuffed animals branded with the Hello Kitty set of characters, in addition to other brands like Pokemon, Mario Brothers and more.

You can buy those products off the shelf like any ordinary store, but why do that when you can experience the thrill of victory? Momoko has 13 of the carnival-like games where you use a joystick to control a mechanical claw that has a chance to grab a prize from a pile of items below.

For $2 worth of tokens on the larger machines, you have a chance to win prizes worth as much as $10.

Now you are starting to understand the Kitty rush, aren’t you?

No? You are still trying to figure out what type of gift boutique this is. Momoko is commonly referred to as a Japanese toy store, and the concept is a hot one in many metro markets. Momoko co-owner Susan Deng said the shops were all over in Houston, where her mother lives.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A row of grappling hook games sit next to a free arcade station at the downtown shop Momoko Gift Boutique on Nov. 1, 2024.

For about three years, the idea of opening such a store kept floating through Deng’s head. The shops reminded her of the shops she used to frequent when she lived in China until the age of 15. Even if you didn’t have the money to buy, they were great for after-school window shopping because everything was so fun to look at.

“They are cute,” Deng said of the variety of characters that adorn the store’s products that include tumblers, bags, hair ornaments, pencils, pins, socks, jewelry and more.

Indeed, that is a hallmark of Japanese-style animated characters that became popular in Japan in the 1970s. A Japanese cultural movement known as kawaii emphasizes innocence, simplicity and cuteness.

Deng thought the combination sounded perfect for Lawrence.

She was living in Olathe when she first started thinking of opening a store, but she previously lived in Lawrence when she attended KU. Lawrence was always the town where she pictured her own store.

“I just wanted to move back here and have fun,” said Deng, who has partnered with Wanna Zhao, an owner of downtown Lawrence’s Encore Cafe, to open the shop.

Merchandise is shown at Momoko Gift Boutique on Nov. 1, 2024.

The shop’s mission revolves around fun, as female college students could tell you. They are the shop’s best customer base. On weekends, groups of them come to the store, sometimes to buy off the shelf, but many times to take their chances with the claw.

“It is kind of like gambling,” Deng said of the thrill that a win on the claw machine produces.

Perhaps it is at a different innocence level, though. You certainly don’t have to be any specific age to play the machines. Deng said the youngest winner, she believes, was a 2-year old toddler who won a sippy cup. (Don’t tell me there’s not claw karma.)

While Hello Kitty-themed items are the store’s biggest seller, there are multiple other brands featured as well. Pokemon is popular, Hot Focus accessories, as well as a stuffed capybara toy. (In real life, a capybara is the world’s largest living rodent. If you ever find yourself trying to spruce up a large rodent, put a turtle backpack on it, which this one sports with aplomb.)

photo by: Chad Lawhorn

Susan Deng, co-owner of Momoko Gift Boutique, holds a stuffed Capybara toy.

The shop also has a few Japanese and Korean sweets and snacks. Those are popular prizes in the smaller claw machines that operate with $1 tokens. Deng said plans call for a larger selection of such snacks for purchase in the near future.

Those snacks will pair well with another strategy that harks back to when Deng was a young Chinese student looking to hang out in a store, even though she didn’t have much money. Momoko has a free video arcade game at the front of the store that has about 3,000 different game options. It is a no-cost piece of entertainment for kids, and Deng figures some cheap snacks will be popular with that crowd.

The store also has a more ambitious expansion project in mind. Momoko currently isn’t using the back half of the store. That part of the store has a dressing room from when the location was a clothing retailer. Deng said she’s planning to turn the dressing room into a unique selfie-photo booth that has rotating themes. She is betting that will be a hit with her core audience.

Especially the ones who want to show off their sweet winnings.