The Pokémon Center is a chain of specialty stores selling Pokémon-related merchandise. Pokémon Centers are predominantly located in Japan, the first having opened in Tokyo in 1998. Stores have also opened in Singapore, the United States, and Taiwan.
Within the Pokémon universe, "Pokémon Centers" are locations where characters can heal, manage, and trade their Pokémon creatures.[1] Real Pokémon Centers, named after the fictional counterparts, sell merchandise such as action figures, plush toys, cereal boxes, clothing, backpacks, and badges.[2]
The Pokémon Company opened the first Pokémon Center store in Tokyo in April 1998. This original Pokémon Center eventually closed and reopened in a different location. Pokémon Center Osaka, one of the franchise' bigger locations at 830 square meters, was the country's seventh Pokémon Center and opened in 2010.[3]
On November 16, 2001, Nintendo opened a store called the Pokémon Center in Rockefeller Center, New York City. The Pokémon Center was closed and replaced by the Nintendo World Store in 2005.[4] This store was renovated and rebranded to Nintendo New York in 2016.[5] [6]
Only four Pokémon Centers remained open at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, and the location in Okayama closed permanently.[7] There are over 20 Pokémon Center locations in Japan as of 2023.[8]
On 8th December 2023, the second permanent Pokémon Center outside of Japan opened in Taipei at the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store near Taipei 101.[9] The Pokémon Company International launched an online Pokémon Center store in 2014.