The opening of Europe's first-ever Pokémon Center should have been celebrated, but instead, the whole thing has been a disaster since the day it opened, and now it's running out of merch.
European Pokémon fans can often feel a little left out when it comes to enjoying the perks of their favorite franchise. Japan is The Pokémon Company's first stop for anything special, and rightly so since that's where Pokémon was born. The US is the franchise's second choice for interest and money-making reasons. That's why the revelation that Sword & Shield's Galar region is loosely based on the UK came as welcome news to British trainers.
Even better, earlier this year it was also revealed that Europe would be getting its first-ever Pokémon Center - a pop-up one in London to coincide with the release of Sword and Shield. The Center is open now and will close its doors on the day the Switch games are released, November 15, 2019.
That's if its stock doesn't run out first. According to Nintendo Life, despite London's Pokémon Center being Europe's first, bosses didn't anticipate how popular it would be. On opening day, the store had to close early due to the fact that queuing time for Pokémon fans to even get a look in was nine hours long. Even now, people have been queuing for six hours just to get in.
Once inside the store, potential consumers who have spent most of their day waiting to get in might not even be able to buy everything they want. Due to dwindling stock, the Center limited purchases to six items per person, and has since reduced that number to five. There have even been reports of certain items selling out within an hour of the store opening each day, and its Twitter account has admitted that stock might not last until November 15.
It's hard to believe Pokémon didn't anticipate how popular London's Center was going to be. Chances are some fans will have traveled for hours just to pay the store a visit, only to be turned away once they arrive even though the Center is supposed to be open for hours. There have even been requests for a permanent store to be opened in the future. However, the chances of that happening are probably pretty slim.
Source: Nintendo Life