A designer toy store and art gallery called Velcrokid has opened in downtown Denton, filling a storefront inside the Mulberry Jam building with blind boxes, vinyl figurines and rotating gallery shows. The shop opened at 216 W. Mulberry St., Ste. 102, at the beginning of November, giving the city a new outpost for collectible art toys alongside its existing gallery scene.
Owner Eric Bowman, who has lived in the Denton area for more than 20 years, says the shop is meant to be more than a retail counter. According to Community Impact, Bowman described Velcrokid as a space where people can explore art as a means for connection, and he works directly with artists from around the world to stock the shelves with designer toys, art pieces and gallery shows.
The store's opening night on November 6 doubled as the launch of its first gallery exhibition, Strange Friends, which features character design artists from New York and Japan. Per the shop's social media, the exhibition is set to remain on display until December 18, giving Denton residents more than a month to see the show before it rotates out.
From Blind Boxes to a Future Konbini
Velcrokid's shelves carry blind boxes, plush companions and apparel, according to the shop's website, continuing the collectible-toy format that first built the brand's following. Bowman's ambitions for the Denton location go beyond what is currently on the shelves, though: he plans to host concerts at the space and eventually add a konbini, a Japanese-style mini convenience store carrying international food items.
That vision traces back to Bowman's original pitch for the brand. In an earlier interview with the Denton Record-Chronicle, Bowman said Velcrokid is kind of like an arts advocacy brand, adding that he wants to introduce new artists from around the world. That same report described the concept as inspired by trips to Japan and Japanese vending machine and cafe culture, specializing in blind boxes and vinyl figurines while also acting as a gathering place in the community.
A Years-Long Path From Lewisville to Mulberry Street
Velcrokid didn't start in Denton. The brand's first storefront sat at 1298 Justin Road in Lewisville, where it soft-opened as a combination vending-machine cafe and designer toy store in December 2024, the Record-Chronicle reported. That Lewisville location eventually closed on May 16, the same report noted, around the time Bowman began looking toward Denton for the brand's next chapter.```
Plans for the relocation surfaced in May, when Bowman told Community Impact that Velcrokid would move from its Justin Road location in Lewisville to downtown Denton, with the business slated to land in a shared space at 216 W. Mulberry in September. Before the storefront materialized, Bowman kept the brand visible around town with pop-ups, including one listed on a University of North Texas calendar for July 18, from noon to 5 p.m., at the UNT CoLab on North Elm Street, according to the North Texas Daily. The university's own event listing described Velcrokid as a designer toy store, art gallery and snack bar coming to Denton that fall, inviting visitors to browse and shop from a colorful assortment of art toys, blind boxes and prints.
Bowman's roots in the local arts scene predate Velcrokid altogether. He previously co-owned the Mill Street House in Lewisville, which operated as a collaborative arts space, according to the Record-Chronicle's earlier coverage of the brand's origins. That background in shared creative spaces appears to carry through to the new Denton shop, where the gallery wall and the toy shelves now share the same storefront. Shoppers and gallery-goers looking to track future exhibitions and events can find more information at velcrokid.com.
