Just purr-fect: Hello Kitty turns 35
MANILA, Philippines - It all started in the 1970s when Virgie Ramos chanced upon a tiny Sanrio Ginza store on a trip to Tokyo and was delighted at all the many products “designed to share happiness” with the world. This started her dream of having Hello Kitty in every home in the Philippines. Since then, Hello Kitty has conquered the world. A book entitled Hello Kitty: The Remarkable Story of Sanrio and the Billion Dollar Feline Phenomenon validates the super-iconic stature of Hello Kitty.
This year, Hello Kitty marks her 35th birthday. Celebrations are going on all over the world.
The just-concluded event in Hong Kong was a gigantic interactive 14-station Kitty Lab with entrance tickets selling at HK$120 (P800 ) for the express lane and HK$100 (P650) for the “long wait” line. The Kitty Lab Event which ended in August will move on to Singapore in mid-November.
Los Angeles, California, will have its own celebration called “Three Apples,” which is a multi-dimensional exhibition and celebration of all things Hello Kitty running from Oct. 23 to Nov. 15. “Three Apples,” as Hello Kitty superfans know, is the precise weight listed in her official bio, and the event takes place at Los Angeles’s famed Royal/T, a visually stunning, playful, Japanese-inspired art exhibition space, retail store and café located within Culver City’s vibrant arts community. A sneak peek at “Three Apples”: A Hello Kitty Art Show with contemporary artists interpreting their vision of Hello Kitty; a Hello Kitty Apartment which is a living installation; a Hello Kitty Product Retrospective which showcases iconic Hello Kitty products from her inception in 1974 to present day; Exhibit Events that include a Halloween party and a Japanese cultural day celebration and a Sanrio Pop-Up Shop allowing collectors to shop, shop, shop!
In the Philippines, the concept of a Sanrio Pop-Up Shop to celebrate Hello Kitty’s 35th anniversary sounded interesting. But naturally, Virgie Ramos, as her friends say, “is such an intense person, always doing something the best way and never jaded… Her heart always has a sense of wonderment.” So she wanted to give this event her very best. Her dear friend and principal, Kunihiko Tsuji, encouraged Ramos-san to make a gorgeous Sanrio Pop-Up Shop following the concept of the Sanrio store in Times Square, New York and promised total support for the project. 
Today, with a range of over 50,000 Hello Kitty different products at any one time, the challenge was, and continues to be, finding the very best from everywhere in the world and showcasing it in the Sanrio Luxe Concept Store to celebrate Hello Kitty’s 35th anniversary.
Kunihiko Tsuji happily says, “We are so lucky. First, we opened Sanrio Luxe on Sept. 25. Second, architect Ed Calma did a great job. I am so happy to see so many smiling faces and reading messages from mothers and their children about how much they love Hello Kitty. Only Ramos-san will do this for Hello Kitty and bring so much happiness, especially this Christmas. We will send special giveaways to say thank you very much for loving Hello Kitty so much.“
