While you’d think Nintendo would have a slew of official shops in Japan, the Kyoto-based game company only has one. Located in Tokyo, the store, cleverly called Nintendo Tokyo, opened in November 2019. But that is going to change because now, in November 2021, Nintendo has announced a second one.
Located in Osaka, it will also have a very clever name: Nintendo Osaka. Opening in late 2022, the shop will be in the Daimaru department store in Umeda, which is one of the central locations in the city. Above is the store’s logo, which looks exactly like, you guessed it, the Tokyo branch’s one.
As with Nintendo Tokyo, Nintendo Osaka will be filled with character-branded merchandise. In case you missed it, check out this previous report showing the Tokyo location around when it first opened. Nintendo manages its retail locations directly, which helps ensure the product quality and the overall experience.
This will be only Nintendo’s second official shop in Japan (there is also a Nintendo New York, which was previously called the Nintendo World Store), but I imagine other possible locations in Japan for shops could be Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. Pokémon has official retail stores all across Japan called Pokémon Centers, so we’ll have to see if Nintendo plans to expand these stores similarly.
Back when Nintendo first announced Nintendo Tokyo, the company explained its goal for the shop in the official announcement, writing, “In addition to selling products such as video game systems, software and character-based merchandise, we plan to host events and offer opportunities to play games at Nintendo Tokyo. We are preparing to make this store, which will be a new base for communicating Nintendo information in Japan, an enjoyable place for a wide range of consumers.”
Nintendo will announce more details about its upcoming Osaka location at a later date.
