Pokémon Center (store)

Pokémon Centers are stores that exclusively sell Pokémon merchandise. In Japan, there are five Pokémon Centers, found in Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka. These stores are managed by The Pokémon Company. The Pokémon Centers are inspired by the buildings of the same name in the Pokémon franchise.

On November 16, 2001 Nintendo opened a store called the Pokémon Center in New York, in New York's Rockefeller Center modeled after the two other Pokémon Center stores in Tokyo and Osaka. The store sold Pokémon merchandise on a total of two floors, with items ranging from collectible shirts to stuffed Pokémon plush toys. The store also featured a Pokémon Distributing Machine in which players would place their game to receive an egg of a Pokémon that is being given out at that time. The store also had tables that were open for players of the Pokémon Trading Card Game to duel each other or an employee. The store was closed and replaced by the Nintendo World Store on May 14, 2005.

There was only one Pokémon Center in the United States, located at Rockefeller Center in New York City. This store closed down in February 2005. The Nintendo World Store opened in the same location, and continues to sell Pokémon merchandise on the bottom floor of the store, under the Pokémon Center brand. An online version of the store ran until it closed on February 1, 2008 in the United States, which followed the closing of the Japanese online stores, which merged onto the Pokémon Japanese web site.