Pokémon Center (store)
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This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Full addresses for temporary Pokémon Centers, more info on online stores |
A Pokémon Center (Japanese: ポケモンセンター Pokémon Center) is a retail store that sells official Pokémon merchandise. Japanese stores are operated by The Pokémon Company, while mall kiosks in the Seattle, Washington, area of the United States are run by The Pokémon Company International.
Products
Pokémon Center stores sell many kinds of Pokémon merchandise. This includes Pokémon games, TCG cards, anime videos and DVDs, manga volumes, CDs, and a wide array of products such as clothes, accessories, bedding, sporting equipment, dishes, musical instruments, and toys. For a gallery of merchandise, see Bulbagarden Archives.
Collections
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. |
The Pokémon Center online store also has a series of collections that have been released over time.
Current stores
Japan
From east to west:
| Name | Description | Logo |
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| Sapporo |
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| Tohoku |
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| Skytree Town |
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| Mega Tokyo |
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| Tokyo Bay |
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| Tokyo DX |
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| Yokohama |
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| Nagoya |
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| Kyoto |
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| Osaka |
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| Osaka DX |
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| Hiroshima |
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| Fukuoka |
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Singapore
| Singapore |
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United States
Vending Machines
The Pokémon Company International is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. In neighboring cities Seattle and Tacoma there are a number of shopping malls with Pokémon Center branded vending machine kiosks.
These vending machines sell various Pokémon video games, Poké Dolls, Monster Collection figures, Trading Card Game items, pins and charms. The kiosks also feature games and demos and an interactive Pokédex. The tags on the Pokédolls from these machines have unique North-West tags that are yellow, blue, and square in shape.
| Location | Description |
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| Northgate Mall |
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| Westfield Southcenter |
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| Tacoma Mall |
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The Tacoma Mall kiosk was previosuly a larger stand that was staffed by Pokémon Company employees who helped make sure the machines were running alright, answered questions, and rang up the sales of extra merchandise located outside of the vending machines.
Previous stores
Japan
| Name | Description | Logo |
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| Tokyo
(First) |
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| Tokyo
(Second) |
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| Osaka |
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| Nagoya |
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| Fukuoka |
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| Yokohama |
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| Sapporo |
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United States
Retail Stores
| New York |
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Pokémon Center New York opened November 16, 2001 and closed January 2005 for remodeling into Nintendo World, a general Nintendo merchandise store. Nintendo World opened on May 14, 2005. On January 19, 2016, the Nintendo World Store closed for remodeling and reopened as Nintendo New York on February 19, 2016.
While no longer a Pokémon exclusive store Nintendo New York continues to offer a wide selection of Pokémon merchandise including Pokémon video games, trading cards, dolls, figures, DVDs, clothes and apparel.
Vending Machines
| Location | Description |
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| Alderwood Mall |
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This stand was the larger of the two in the Seattle-area, but it was still limited in size. It featured a larger vending machine kiosk, a tower of Poké Dolls and DX Poké Dolls, and The Pokémon Company International employees who answered questions and rang up sales. It closed in July 2012, due to leasing issues.
Temporary stores
Japan
| Name | Description | Logo |
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| Chūbu Centrair International Airport |
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| Tokyo Character Street |
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| Haneda International Airport International Terminal |
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| Pokémon Game Show |
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France
| Paris |
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A temporary Pokémon Center store was opened in Paris, France from June 4 through June 21, 2014. The store featured an exhibition of illustrations from the Pokémon games, interactive events for fans, and the opportunity to purchase merchandise brought over from the Japanese Pokémon Center shops.
United Kingdom
| London | 
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A pop-up Pokémon Center store opened in London, United Kingdom on October 18, 2019 and will close on November 15, 2019. The store sells a range of exclusive merchandise themed around London City Pikachu, the store's mascot. It also sells other Pokémon Center merchandise from PokémonCenter.com, various Trading Card Game items and a range of Nintendo Switch consoles, accessories and Pokémon video games. The store also has a demo area for the upcoming Pokémon Sword and Shield games.
Online
Japan
In Japan Pokémon Center goods are available from Pokémon Center Online and The Pokémon Store at Amazon.co.jp.
A desktop online store was originally available in Japan from March 21, 2001 and a store accessible via mobile phones was available from September 29, 2003. Both of these closed on November 30, 2006.
The Amazon.co.jp store opened on October 18, 2012 and uses the Pokémon Store brand and name. On February 16, 2016 the current pokemoncenter-online.com website reopened for customers in Japan.
United States
In the United States Pokémon Center goods are available from PokémonCenter.com.
Original Website
Around mid-January 2008, the Pokémon Center online store in North America displayed a closing message, encouraging shoppers to take advantage of closing sales, because the store would be closing at the end of the month. The store did close effective February 1st, but kept a Q & A site in place of the actual store. The reason given for the closing was: "Pokémon USA, Inc. (now part of The Pokémon Company International) has decided to sell Pokémon merchandise exclusively through its retail partners." The site continued to accept product returns that met their product return standards and were postmarked by February 21st of that year. If one visited pokemoncenter.com, it would redirect to the Pokémon website.
New Website
On July 2, 2014, the website featured a countdown clock for the grand opening of the Pokémon Center online store and three different items avaliable for early-access purchase.
On August 6, 2014, the Pokémon Center online store reopened for customers in the United States at the same URL. Some fans were given advance access via mail, where they could access the Pokémon Center website starting July 2, 2014. These fans were given some special gifts from The Pokémon Company alongside the invitation: an iPhone 5 case, a notebook, a canteen, and a plush Special Delivery Pikachu.
Trivia
- The internal data of the core series games from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl to Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon contain location indices for all of the Pokémon Centers at the time.
- The Japanese and Korean version of the Generation IV games still refer to the Nintendo World Store as PC New York (Japanese: ＰＣニューヨーク, Korean: PC뉴욕), even though they were released after the remodeling. Games from Generation V onwards do not have a location index for the Nintendo World Store.
- Beginning in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, the games no longer have individual indices for each store, with only the Pokémon Center Tohoku retaining a distinct location index.
See also
External links
- Official site for the Japanese Pokémon Centers (Japanese)
- Official site for Pokémon Center Online (English)
- Official site for Pokémon Center Online (Japanese)
- Official site for Pokémon Center Singapore (English)
