Feb. 23 (UPI) — An Australian woman who has loved Shopkins toys since she was a child amassed a record-breaking collection of 2,656 different items.
Mareeba, Queensland, resident Alexa Szerstuk said she fell in love with Shopkins toys when a classmate brought some to school when she was 7 years old.
Szerstuk said she started buying her own Shopkins and now has a collection of 2,656 unique items — although her collection numbers more than 4,000 if doubles are counted.
She took the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of Shopkins memorabilia from British woman Rhianna Connors, whose collection was tallied at 2,271 pieces in 2019.
Shopkins — small toys shaped like food, clothing items and other objects — were released by Australia’s Moose Toys in 2014. The line was discontinued in 2023.
“I love Shopkins because when they were first released there was nothing quite like them on the market, for girls especially,” Szerstuk told Guinness World Records. “I started collecting in 2014 when I was seven and they were first released. It became such an obsession because it was just so exciting to have a pack and find ones you didn’t have and to see if you’d get a special edition one or even a limited addition.”