Kellogg's Pop-Tarts World, which just opened on the heavily trafficked but somehow abandoned-feeling stretch of 42nd Street between Bryant Park and Times Square proper, is a loud, aggressively cheerful, crazily-lit, undisguised attempt by the makers of these iconic treats to scream about their brand for a bit and make a pile of money from visitors to our beautiful city. Although it's not being promoted as a pop-up shop, Kellogg's Pop-Tarts World feels very haphazard and unfinished, and the company admits their lease on the space runs only through January, when all the tourists, coincidentally enough, go back home. Will this temple of toaster pastries become a permanent fixture? It seems unlikely, but between now and the New Year, it's definitely worth popping by Pop-Tarts World for the sheer spectacle of the thing, especially if you're doing the Forty-Deuce circuit with out-of-town visitors. 

Kellogg's Pop-Tarts World NYC has three main regions, the most popular of which–and we're talking lines-out-the-door popular–is The Varietizer, essentially a vending machine on steroids through which people gladly pay $2 per pop-tart for a cleverly-designed, robotically-delivered variety pack of pastries. The neon-ish double-frosted Wild Grape seemed to be the most popular flavor among Varietizer users when we were there, but other choices include modern-day breakfast travesties such as S'Mores, Hot Fudge Sundae, and Vanilla Milkshake as well as classic flavors like Brown Sugar Cinnamon and Blueberry.       

 

The third primary realm of Kellogg's Pop-Tarts World is the custom T-shirt station, at which you choose up to three pieces of clip-art–one of which, bizarrely, looks like the old AT&T logo–and for a mess of a heavily-branded garment. Or you can just purchase any number of other pre-designed Pop-Tarts shirts. Or magnets. Or mugs, pencils, keychains, tote bags… anything on which you can combine "Pop-Tarts" and "NYC" is fair game and priced high at Kellogg's Pop-Tarts World.