Line Friends, the character merchandising unit of Naver-owned mobile messenger Line, will open its first official store in the US at Times Square in New York City in July, the company said Monday.

The upcoming store, spanning 430 square meters, will be located on 1515 Broadway, which houses the renowned “Lion King” musical.

It will be the first-ever large-scale Asian character brand store to open in the US and will also commemorate the one-year anniversary of Line’s public listing on the New York Stock Exchange, Line Friends said.

“Line Friends is excited to open its first official store in the US in Times Square, a major commercial center and one of the world’s most popular tourist and entertainment hubs visited by 330,000 people daily,” Line Friends said in a statement.

“The opening of our first store in New York City highlights the rapid popularity our beloved characters are gaining not just in Asia, but in North America and other countries around the world.”

Founded in 2015, Line Friends Corp. is a 100 percent-owned subsidiary of Line Corp. It creates various consumer products including dolls and stationery based on the signature characters from Line messenger such as Brown, Choco and Cony.

Line Friends operates 28 official stores in 11 countries around the world, including China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It has collaborated with brands such as Lamy, Uniqlo, L’occitaine, Samsung Electronics, Swarovski and Moleskin.

Line Friends CEO Kim Sung-hoon expressed confidence in the character brand’s outlook in the US, in a statement to the media.

“We’ve built up a foundation (for success), having opened a Line Friends pop-up store in New York’s Times Square in 2014 and featured large LED billboard advertisements in late 2015,” Kim said.

“Starting with New York, we will speed up our efforts to ramp up our presence in global markets.”

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)