Update (4th Nov, 12:00 BST): As feared, The Pokémon Company has now confirmed that the exclusive London City Pikachu Plush will sell out before the store's closure. If you're planning a trip to the store next week, you'll likely be out of luck.
"Due to overwhelming popularity, this week will be the final week that London City Pikachu Plush will be in stock at Pokemon Center London. Restocking will continue daily, but we will most likely completely sell out on Sunday 10th November."
Interestingly, the store has revealed that it'll be adding more products to the shop over the coming week "including additional licensee products", presumably as a way to provide something for those who can't grab the new goodies.
Original Article (29th Oct, 13:15 BST): The pop-up Pokémon Center currently operating in London is a glorious little haven for fans of the series, offering them a collection of delightful products and a rare chance to enjoy an official Nintendo-themed outing in the country. Sadly, though, the demand for the store appears to have been terribly miscalculated, and things are going from bad to worse.
On its very first day, we shared the news that the store had to close entry queues nine hours early, with anyone showing up after 1pm being turned away. We thought that the opening weekend would be the busiest and that things would calm down, but since then, we've seen the store's opening times be narrowed to cope with stock limits and legal visitor number limits, product purchasing be limited to just six items per person - and then down to five per person, and queue times consistently remaining at around the six-hour mark.
The Pokémon Company has even felt the need to open a dedicated Twitter account to update visitors who are travelling or queueing each day. Following the account shows that multiple products sell out within an hour of the store being open on any particular day, and a message shared yesterday reveals that there are concerns that products will sell out entirely before the shop's intended closure on 15th November.
"Our team are working hard to restock daily. However, as interest in the store has been unprecedented, some products may sell out before the shop's closure on Friday 15th November."
Considering the UK and Europe's lack of any official Pokémon or Nintendo retail store, we can't quite believe that the demand wasn't expected, and for anyone living several hours outside of London, a trip feels incredibly impractical. Some fans have travelled across the country to be turned away, despite the store still being 'open' for several more hours.
We've seen a number of fans asking for a permanent store on social media after missing out, and while we can't know for certain that this would be financially viable in the view of The Pokémon Company, we'd hope that either a full-time store or even just an official online store is offered in the future.
Have you tried to make your way to the Pokémon Center London? Did you manage to wait it out and get what you wanted, or were you left disappointed? Tell us below.
Comments 81
There are very few things that I'd be willing to wait in a line for six hours for and this is not one of them.
I was hoping the queues would have got shorter, I was going to go during the week, but the queues seem just as long
I went to London on opening day and after checking twitter decided to try the next day and spent the rest of the day in London. Woke up at 5:30 in the morning and got to the centre at 6:30 and the queue was already massive. Proceeded to wait until 1pm in line before getting in. Absolutely exhausting process overall. Thought the staff did everything they could for those in line and harbor no ill feelings towards the staff. Absolutely think that it shows just how much demand their is for a permanent solution for European Pokémon fans.
I can't believe there aren't more permanent stores throughout the world. They could put one in my local shopping mall and it'd do great. London seems like a no-brainer given the city size and level of Poké-passion.
It sounds like they ought to open up multiple Pokemon Center locations due to the level of demand.
@TeslaChippie
Yeah it's crazy that they don't do more stores and in more cities around the world. They sell out of almost everything every day! I do not see how that could not be "financially viable in the view of The Pokémon Company"?!
My 8 yr old daughter wanted the Pikachu and the TCG sleeves. Asked someone who was going to try get me one, and the stock is limited to 1 London exclusive per person, and max 5 purchases.
Now got a very upset little girl
I'm glad I didn't bother going now. Sounds like an absolute nightmare and hideous experience for all involved. Imagine having to wait for six hours for the privilege to pay for items, and then find out you can only have five items max! This desmans surely shows Nintendo and The Pokemon Company that there is demand for a permanent store or three in this country.
@rdrunner1178 Seriously! Cleary these stores will make them a ton of money, especially if they have seasonal and limited edition products!
What an utter shambles this whole thing has turned out to be. And the worse thing about it, if you miss out because of the disaster this has become, then you don't really get a second chance. It's really poor and doesn't exactly build you up with confidence in them doing anything like this in the future. They must have known well in advance the kind of demand there would be.
Are the queues consistently 6 hours long or was that a fluke? Was considering taking my 4-year next week (after half term, but she has an inset day) but if it’s that bad I’m not going to bother
If an M&M themed store can operate permanently in Leicester Square. Then a Pokemon one will do fine.
Well the earliest chance I could get there is the 14th, so I won't bother
@FragRed That's completely non-sequitur, man. Things are going this poorly yet they knew how high the demand would be?
That logic doesn't work. It's obvious the reason the situation is so bad is because they didn't expect this. It just goes to show that TPC as a company is pretty ignorant when it comes to how big in scope the series in general has become.
"as interest in the store has been unprecedented".
It is entirely with precedent, Pokemon has been a global phenomenon for decades now.
A drunk child could have anticipated this level of interest.
I can’t believe NintendoLife are fuelling the Pokemon Center London hate like this! The staff have been doing nothing but working their butts off from day one, trying their hardest to keep stock on shelves, getting nothing but negativity from social media channels yet still serving as many people as they can with a smile.
People are getting “turned away” as the entry queue has reached the visitor limit for the day which is appox 4000 people. The store and shipping center physically can’t accommodate any more people! It’s better to cut the queue and communicate this out rather than allow guest to join a queue with no hope of getting into the store.
The demand was expected, which can be backed up by the daily stock deliveries however just not on the scale that has happened. No one would have predicted just how popular this store could have been. Not even Japanese Pokemon Centers get this level of crowds!
I'm going to walk past it next week when I'm in London, I am not going to queue, thought it would have calmed down abit since opening
Took my son on Saturday around 2pm and the queue was massive and already closed. Spoke to a shopper at the front and he said he’s been there since 7am. Whilst my son was disappointed not to go in (my fault for bigging this up) he said it wasn’t worth it when he realised how long he’d have to stand in line
@Buzzthebatgirl
"Not even Japanese Pokemon Centers get this level of crowds!"
Because they're permanent and multiple across Japan.
Anyone with moderate intelligence could have predicted just how popular this particular store has been.
Pokémon Goes From Bad To Worse, Developer Could Sell Out Before Closure
Despite superior hardware and resources
How did they not expect this? It's Pokemon for goodness sake. It's crazy that the Pokemon Company thinks that only Japan would care about a dedicated Pokemon store.
This is like Sega World London all over again.
I went last wednesday, the store opened at 10 and the queue closed at 10 because people were queuing from 11pm the night before. we waited in line for 5 hours and everything was sold out apart from some Detective Pikachu stuff and some small plushies that are all available for cheaper online. Apparently a lot of the people near the front of the line were there every day buying stuff to resell online, this was told to us by the staff that made no attempt to stop them. They don't care who gets to buy the merch as long as it sells. The whole thing is just an advert for the new games
The Pokemon Company is out of touch with fans of their products? Well, I'll be!
This is why these pop-up stores just don't work. In Ottawa, we got a Nintendo pop-up kiosk in the Rideau Centre. First of all, had no idea that was even there, no PR about it at all. And just found out a couple weeks ago that it was shutting down in November. When I checked it out though, they had very little stock of anything, and it was pretty much just demos for Nintendo Switch Lite. Instead of pop-ups, Nintendo should get serious about expanding their retail presence and actually build more Nintendo Stores. There are very few corporate brands nowadays that can succeed at retail but I'd argue that Nintendo is similar to Apple in that these stores would be very profitable and work in major urban centres. Do away with the pop-up model & go permanent retail with enough stock to satisfy demand.....and there will be demand.
Well, at least the items are selling well!
And they want to close it in few weeks? What gives? Just leave it open!
Wow... Nintendo never learns and it seems the Pokémon Company is picking up Nintendo's bad habbit now of "we don't have unlimited resources" crap like what happened with amiibos, NES & SNES classics, they seem to be incapable to comprehend how much passsion and devotion their fans have for collecting their products, like seriously it should be obvious that demands will be colossally high.
I bet the Universal Studio's Nintendo Park is not gonna be big enough to hold all the numbers of people that want to get in during their first opening month, let's wait & see how that's gonna go lol
@Chibi_Manny
They do comprehend it and it’s always been part of their plan shown famously with the Wii, create scarce supply so everyone buys it up when they can out of fear of missing out.
Was there on the 22nd at 4:45 am. Number 21 in line. Bought everything I wanted and out of there in 10 minutes. And as I was leaving, the queues were insane. I think they knew exactly what they were doing. And although they may have expected to have more stock, they should have known the demand would be this high. I agree, it’s clear they intended the pop-up to be a high-demand, short supply, limited time, large crowd endeavour. They’re all about the money.
@BarefootBowser cheers. Decision made. Good thing I haven’t told the kid about it yet.
At least they are being smart about only letting a few people in at a time. We don't need more stories like the ones we hear every black friday.
I'm laughing my ass off at some of the comments here. But only in the sense that they make way too much sense. Why there aren't any more Nintendo or Pokémon stores in more urban areas around the world (or at least in countries were Nintendo traditionally does well) is on a whole different level of absurdity.
Went last weekend with the kids. I gave up. Kids got disappointed but not waiting that long. Done other shopping instead so day wasn’t fully wasted
I’m not sure if “unprecedented” is the word I would use, since this happens literally every time Nintendo sells something.
Standing in the queue would effectively be longer than my travelling To London and I don’t even live in the country
TPCI once again showing how utterly incompetent they are, one would think opening permanent stores across all major cities in the world would be a given by now. This is literally the most profitable entertainment franchise ever so I find it hard to believe it was an unprecedented success even if the UK isn't a particularly strong market for Nintendo. It's just poor management through and through
crowds 1st month and closure after 1 year... I m not against Pokemon, I just saw enough nice stores open and close quickly in London
Queued for over seven hours... all the merchandise we've traveled down from Newcastle for, sold out. Rude, unhelpful, lazy staff. Very poir communication. Awful, awful experience. Very disappointing and I've a very disappointed son who's been saving like crazy since the pop up shop was announced. Expected so much more, especially from a company such as Nintendo. I do hope whoever claims to have 'organised' this farce is suitably reprimanded, they've seriously damaged your brand!!
what's the obsession with Nintendo teddies and toys in general? Forgive my ignorance but I genuinally don't get adults waiting hours for a stuffed toy.
Damn I really wanted to pester my aunt for a Grookey Sports Shirt but that ain't happening with those queues....
I went for my birthday last Thursday and it was a 5 hour wait but was worth it in the end. I would say I'd never do it again though and feel sorry for everyone who tries to que up.
It's obvious that the Pokemon company could easily afford to do it as they are making loads of money from sales and even more if there was not stock issues.
Simple fact this should be bigger and not just Japan mainly.
@gaga64 They've pretty much been at least six hours every day unless you turn up really early.
I live quite close in central London so decided to queue up yesterday morning during my week off work with nothing else planned. It was exactly what i expected - a 6 hour wait that absolutely flew by because I was in a queue of like-minded strangers, so we all got chatting and playing Pokemon Go together. I loved the whole thing and I got all the items I went for - the only things sold out when I got in the store at 1.30 were pin badges, socks and fleece blankets which I wasn’t after. If you choose to be miserable about waiting then the queue time will feel a hell of a lot longer.
@Northwind that’s interesting about Uniqlo and their Pokémon shirts. In San Francisco on release day I went to buy some shirts and the store was empty with plenty of stock - but also the US has a Pokemon Center online and one or two physical stores. That says it all. The UK needs an online store!
@gaga64 I arrived at 7.30am yesterday and got in after 6 hours, but stock was still ok for most things including a lot of London pikachu items.
Travelled from wales and turned up at westfield 1 hour before the store opened sunday just gone to find lines already closed. Waste of time and disappointed children who could only look in the window once the store opened.
I think the main problem is local scalpers returning there on a daily basis. Limits are fine and good, but what's stopping the same people camping outside the next day for the same exclusives if you can profit big on ebay? Are the staff and security the same ones every day? £20 for a London Pikachu can easy more than triple profit on ebay. Imagine what you'd make if you brought £200's worth of the plushes if you went 10 days in a row? Just a bus/tube fare or even just a walk plus a few morning hours of your time and its sadly, easy money.
A permanent store would be nice but its hard to tell if it would still be successful if the supply outnumbers the demand. Sure you can stock new exclusives every so often but as soon as a new exclusive launches, its back to square one. Get there early enough, or pay a fortune on ebay to avoid missing out.
@BarefootBowser This include work days? Have the lines not gotten shorter during actual work days that are not half term?
I'm hoping to go next Tuesday probably get there around 8am.
@Franklin You still have to queue for some to get in. I've seen some tourists videos where they had to queue.
Well, maybe this level of interest will make Gamefreak seriously consider setting up permanent shop in London?
If there's any wiggle room with the contracts, then they should just extend the duration through November.
@Jaffacakes01 @Angelic_Lapras_King
Scalpers are a scourge on society. They should track people's ID with day-after-day purchases. Anything! Measures need to be taken against this kind of scummy behavior.
Wait, They're closing the store? Why? Why built a store form the ground up, make it super popular and close it a month later? That's stupid.
This seems silly to me. If anything it should tell Nintendo/Pokemon that they should open up a permanent location in Europe at least. If not one in several European countries.
The whole idea of super short term stores is extremely foreign and silly in my opinion.
This is all driven by the fact that it's a limited time store, and there are exclusives on offer. If not for exclusive items, many people wouldn't rush to get there. If the store was open for a year, barely anyone would rush to go let alone queue for hours. And the more people hear of their desired item being sold out, the earlier they will start queuing in order to try and get it. So unless they make it more permanent and stop selling out of stock on a daily basis, they won't solve the queue issue.
@Angelic_Lapras_King 1 london exclusive per day...£20 in store price. £60 on eBay. £40 profit per day. 10 plushies, £400 for 10 days work (before travel costs, eBay fees and P&P).
Who’s going to be doing that, exactly?
Morons. If anything, these "pop up" stores are only serving to pee all over consumer goodwill and damage the brand.
Hobbies are supposed to be enjoyable. Stress shouldn't be part of that equation.
Typical Nintendo. HEY when are my stupid SNES Online controllers "special offer" gonna be in stock again for longer than 20 minutes so I can order them. No other company seems to do this when people just wanna throw money at them. Nintendo is so g******* nervous to have one single item sit on a shelf and not sell. Just open a dang store in England.
I came all the way from the Highlands of Scotland just to go to the Pokemon Centre but couldn’t get in because of stupidly long queues! Soo disappointed!
The demand is there Nintendo! Keep it open!!
My 3 kids are on half term holiday here in Yorkshire.I am not made of money so arranged for someone to meet them off the train from Yorkshire to London Kings Cross and paid for the train tickets. 1 child being disabled.and they were really looking forward to going to pokemon store in london. At a great cost of money with train fairs and travel cards, for them to come back from a 500 mile round trip with nothing but tears and upset as they so looked forward to going and to get their London pikachu in a hat and suit. For them to see no sign of them and then found out they were not even there for sale, and not even an apology from anyone.Thanks for nothing,you happily upset children and dont give a stuff at the money children save for things then all the travelling and all the expenses..FOR NOTHING !
Nintendo will issue their traditional apology, that is, one with no recompense or change of behaviour.
Build up a global brand over decades, and then somehow not anticipate the demand you've generated. Beyond cretinous.
Well I’m glad I got up at 4am last Wednesday now managed to get the plush with umbrella, hoody, socks Water bottle and a backpack To name a few
@womblestu we were in disabled queue on Wednesday, they only gave us 10 items total and the kids got nothing, had to improvise but we did quite well, my advice to you if you wanted to retry is to get a cheapest hotel near London and drive the rest of the way
This is tipical Nintendo Fashion with everything they do, I am for sure not queing for anything for them anymore, is absolutely ridiculous
Everytime without fail they mess up supply, losing fans and money, total absolute joke
It really shows though, how out of touch Nintendo is with their customer base outside Japan! Nintendo really and always have been living inside a nationalist Japanese bubble, with little knowledge outside of Japan and whats going on there.
Here is really where Reggie and Nintendo of America came into play and how much Reggie did for International Nintendo fans over the years.
Without him and Nintendo of America and we International customers would have been left with far less games and merchandise outside Japan.
Nintendo of Europe on the other hand, always has been a total disaster! Never really understand the purpose of their existence, other than doing the bare minimum of game distribution and the occasional batch of Amiibo and other merchandise. /Facepalm
I live in Norway in Northern Europe and here its the absolute worst when it comes to Nintendo. We got hardly anything here other than the bare minimum of console hardware and games and a small batch of Amiibo on occasion. /shrug
Went to the Kyoto store when I was in Japan this summer, and it's really not that crazy. Just a lot of plushes and useless goodies
@womblestu
Cool story bro
How have Nintendo managed to underestimate the demand? Do they not know how popular it would be!?
Honestly it’s like the NES Classic, just keep making them until people don’t want them Nintendo, stop fuelling the scalpers market!
Just open a permanent location already. Profit.
@Jeronan I remember the interview where they said they couldn't understand why fans outside of Japan like Fire Emblem.
@jockmahon Pretty on brand for Pokémon lately.
It's been said before, if a store in Leicester Square selling M&M's merchandise can be a success, surely a permanent Nintendo store in London wouldn't go amiss.
An extremely popular franchise that's been running for over 20 years but had near zero opportunities for people in Europe to buy merch without importing gets a single official store that's not even permanent. What did they expect would happen?
I got up at 3am travelled from Leeds to London 5 hours on a bus, travelled across London and queued for 4 hours. The shop was almost empty when we got in. Went on Halloween hear some people queued for 8 hours on other day and some turned away. I took my daughter as she wanted to go for her 21st. The products are not good quality and a bag handle has broken It is impossible for me to get an exchange despite messaging the Westfield Centre 3 times. Trading standards are being breeched here I will be taking this up again with the Westfield Centre today.
It's such a shame this has been such a shambles.
This sort of thing happens with pop-ups and limited edition items all the time sadly. I always see people queuing for days for the latest Nikes or Supreme or Polo gear.
It would be nice to think a permanent store would do well in the UK or EU BUT from my experience in the toy retail sector for 25 years, Pokemon merch is often jobbed out and on sale pretty much weeks after release. I've been to Japan many times and the centres the quality is far far better and they keep it changing and very inventive to keep demand there.
So unless the quality of plushies, figures etc available in Europe vastly improves it wont work as a permanent store. The demand is there but not for what we get here and its only popular as a Pop Up as selling exclusive stuff and some other better quality stuff. I see the detective stuff is in the Pop up for full price you can get these in Tesco for £3.52! And that proves my point really it's all hype. Tomy stuff was bad enough and discounted heavily all the time. This new company taken on the license is really quite shocking compared to what Japan has and they are totally out of touch with who there main market really is. It's not kids and we dont want a load of rubbish at silly prices.
Pokemon. $96 billion revenue. "...unprecedented..." WAIT. WHAT?
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