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Nintendo's first store in Japan opens this Friday, and it looks like a Nintendo-lover's paradise - here's what it's like inside

Kevin Webb   

Nintendo's first store in Japan opens this Friday, and it looks like a Nintendo-lover's paradise - here's what it's like inside
Tech2 min read

Nintendo Tokyo Store

Nintendo

Nintendo mascot Super Mario greets customers at Nintendo Tokyo, the company's first retail store in Japan.

  • Nintendo just opened a brand-new flagship store, Nintendo Tokyo, in its home country of Japan.
  • Nintendo Tokyo is located on the sixth floor of Shibuya Parco, a new department store in Tokyo's Shibuya district.
  • A new Pokémon-themed store called Pokémon Center Shibuya will open on the same floor as Nintendo Tokyo, allowing customers to walk through and shop in both stores.
  • Nintendo Tokyo features exclusive merchandise and Nintendo Switch consoles so customers can demo Nintendo's latest releases.
  • Nintendo has a similar flagship store, Nintendo NY, in New York City's Rockefeller Center.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nintendo Tokyo will celebrate its grand opening on November 22, giving the Japanese gaming giant its first flagship store in its home country.

Nintendo Tokyo is located on the sixth floor of Shibuya Parco, a newly opened department store in Tokyo's Shibuya District. In addition to selling Nintendo video games and consoles, Nintendo Tokyo has tons of exclusive merchandise featuring iconic Nintendo characters, as well as stations where customers can try out the latest Nintendo games.

Nintendo already operates a similar store, Nintendo NY, in New York City's Rockefeller Center.

Members of the press were invited to tour the store during an event on November 19, ahead of the grand opening on Friday. The Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki shared a walking tour of Nintendo Tokyo on Twitter in two videos.

A new Pokémon-themed store, Pokémon Center Shibuya, is located next to Nintendo Tokyo. While Nintendo also owns the Pokémon franchise, Nintendo Tokyo and Pokémon Center Shibuya will operate as separate stores - the Pokémon Center retail chain is managed by a subsidiary called The Pokémon Company. There are already multiple Pokémon Center stores in Japan.

While Nintendo created The Pokémon Company to make the most of licensing opportunities, the company has been much more conservative with its other video game properties. Nintendo Tokyo is the latest in a series of gradual steps to expand the company's pop-culture influence beyond the world of gaming. In early 2018 Nintendo announced that a Super Mario movie was in the early stages of development, and in 2020, Universal Studios Japan plans to open a Super Nintendo World attraction that reportedly cost $544 million.

Here's a closer look at Nintendo Tokyo ahead of its grand opening on November 22:

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