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Pokemon Center New York
Sooner or later, entertainment companies think about releasing their own souvenir products. And if the company is doing very well, earning a lot of money, and is at the peak of popularity, then it might even consider opening a whole store with such goods.
Nintendo was no exception to this trend. The first two Pokemon Centers were opened in Japan, but the third and most famous one appeared in New York. It was located at Rockefeller Plaza on 48th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.
Rockefeller Plaza is part of the Rockefeller Center complex, construction of which began in the 1930s. All the buildings in the center were built in the Art Deco style. The complex houses the headquarters of various corporations and the largest auction house, Christie's.
In 1987, Rockefeller Center was designated a National Historic Landmark in the United States, which imposes special requirements for repair work and storefront arrangements. For example, no signs could be placed on the store.
To design the store (while complying with historical heritage requirements), Nintendo hired the Phillips Group. According to Alec Zaballero, the main challenge was to integrate a 21st-century store into a 1937 building. The design project for the store has even been preserved.
Design Project for Pokemon Center New York
Due to restrictions, all advertising for the store was done inside behind glass.
On November 16, 2001, Pokemon Center New York opened. A notable fact is that photography was prohibited in the store. However, I find it hard to understand why this ban was introduced. But a video from the store from those years has been preserved online.
Frankly, if this were just a regular souvenir store, we wouldn't be writing about it, but for Pokemon Centers (both Japanese and American), a limited series of Pokemon-themed consoles were released.
In the photo above, the Charizard, Groudon, Kyogre, Venusaur, and Torchic consoles were released exclusively for the Pokemon Center New York (and sold only there). On each box of these consoles, in the upper right corner, you can see the inscription "Pokemon Center."
These are very rare versions of the GBA SP console, and their cost is very high even for extremely worn-out versions. And new ones cost astronomical amounts. For example, right now on eBay, there is an auction where a new limited edition GBA SP Venusaur console (the version for Japanese Pokemon Centers) is being sold, and the price has already jumped to $410, even though there are still 4 days left until the end of the auction.
In 2004, it was announced that the Pokemon Center NY would be closed for renovation, and later Nintendo announced that it would become the flagship Nintendo World store. Rumors suggest that the store's closure was due to Nintendo's dissatisfaction with the store's management. There were issues with employee theft and unprofessional behavior in general.
Nintendo World
In May 2005, the Nintendo store opened its doors.
And it's clear that the rebranding affected not only the store's appearance but also its interior. Now, the store's shelves featured not only Pokemon but all Nintendo characters.
And here we could end the story of the store, which received its own limited series of consoles, if not for one but.
Nintendo World, for its time (2005), was very futuristic and beautiful inside.
You could play consoles there.
But among all this diversity, the console museum stood out. Surely you've seen photos of this exhibit:
This Game Boy was in the Gulf War in 1991 and survived a bombing. Stephen Scoggins sent it to Nintendo for repair. The Game Boy wasn't repaired, but it became a landmark in the Nintendo store.
In addition to this exhibit, there were many other interesting ones, such as a limited edition gold Game Boy Advance SP Zelda with Shigeru Miyamoto's autograph.
But the most remarkable thing was in the farthest corner of this stand.
There were many different limited edition Game Boy Advance SPs, but among them were three truly mysterious models. Just look at these camouflage GBA SPs on the left and right.
This photo shows it even better:
What are these models, where did they come from, where did they go (they are no longer in the store) – these are all questions I don't have answers to. I vaguely remember that somewhere, while digging through the internet and looking for materials for some article, I saw a mention that a release of camouflage consoles was planned, but they never went into production. But this is such a vague memory that I even doubt it myself.
There was also a Game Boy Advance SP with Swarovski crystals, but like the camouflage consoles, its fate is unknown.
Epilogue
Overall, Pokemon Center New York would have remained just a regular store with Pokemon merchandise, and it would have had little to do with the theme of the site. But the ultra-rare limited edition Game Boy Advance SP consoles and the mysterious camouflage consoles are definitely worth paying attention to. Who knows, maybe someday the veil of mystery will be lifted, and we will find out what those consoles were.
