Interview with the Pokémon Center NY Historical Website
Preserving the history of the Pokémon Center New York store
We are delighted to be interviewing the two individuals behind the Pokémon Center New York Historical Website, a comprehensive record of the now defunct store, its events, merchandise and memories of what used to be found there.
The Pokémon Center New York was a 13,000 square-foot store that extended to two floors, and could hold up to 200 people. It was located in the Rockefeller Center, and was the first Pokémon Center outside of Japan, selling a range of Pokémon merchandise, which included plushies and video games. The store had many animatronics and interactive elements, and one of the major attractions was the Gotta Catch ‘Em All!™ Station, which allowed participants to obtain rare and unique Pokémon throughout the second and third generation games. The Pokémon Company occupied the building between November 16th, 2001 to January 19th, 2005, when Nintendo took over and reopened the store as “Nintendo World” and then, later, as “Nintendo NY,” which the company has operated ever since.
It’s wonderful to be interviewing you both for the Johto Times! Could you please introduce yourselves and tell us what your roles are at the Pokémon Center New York Historical Website?
Grace:
Hello! My name is Grace, otherwise known as mewisme700 in the Pokémon collector community, I am the creator and head author of pokemoncenternewyork.com. Outside the site, I am a vintage Pokémon collector and archivist.
Julie:
Hi there! I’m Julie (or “toloveL” online) and I am the co-author of the Pokémon Center New York Historical Website, alongside Grace, as well as the one who currently moderates and updates the website as of February 2020. My specialty in the community is Pokémon video game “event” distribution preservation. I try my very best to archive significant pieces of digital media and make sure they don’t get lost to time.
Grace, you are the creator of the website. What propelled you to do so?
Grace:
It was around 2013, three years after I started collecting Pokémon, that I started to gain interest in Pokémon Center New York as a whole. Not only was I interested in collecting the merchandise exclusive to the store, but I was particularly interested in the background of this Pokémon flagship store. Upon doing some Googling on the store, [I saw that] the internet really did not have much on it, almost as if it never existed. I found that to be extremely odd; a franchise as popular as Pokémon at one point had a store that ran for four years in one of the biggest tourist cities in the United States, yet there was essentially nothing online about it.
This lack of information really got me started on gathering as much as I could about the store and its merch, which in turn, became the website pokemoncenternewyork.com. The site plays a role in the community as essentially an archive for all things PCNY, in order to preserve this chapter in Pokémon history that had been forgotten after it closed in 2005.
Julie, you are the current moderator and writer updating the website. How did you first get involved with the project?
Julie:
It’s a funny story, actually! It begins like this: I really like the color pink. My real-life last name literally translates to, “guardian of the forest,” which is kind of like the title for the mythical Pokémon, Celebi. With all of this in mind, in 2016, I had just graduated from high school and was really interested in finding a legitimate event Shiny Celebi, but at that time, the only way to get one was through vintage distribution events from 2001.
In Japan, there used to be a device that was compatible with Pokémon Crystal, called the “Mobile Adapter GB,” which was essentially a cable that connected your Game Boy Color console to certain brands of Japanese cell phones and allowed players, who subscribed to a paid service, to play their games online. As most could guess, it was pretty advanced for its time! In regards to Pokémon, this adapter could be used to download official news about whatever was going on at that time, in Japan.
You could also battle and trade with friends. However, what I would argue to be the most important thing that people remember about the Mobile Adapter GB service was that it could allow players of Pokémon Crystal version to download an event-only item, called a “GS Ball,” that allowed players to encounter a wild Celebi— which, technically, could be shiny.
Unfortunately though, when this service was discontinued, the entire GS Ball event was lost to time (other than by exploiting the game’s code) all the way until Pokémon Crystal’s Virtual Console release in 2018. Again though, this was back in 2016-2017, so Crystal hadn’t been re-released yet. I decided to keep looking for another Shiny Celebi event and, well, that’s when I discovered the Pokémon Center NY store.
I had heard of the store before from my childhood upstairs neighbor, but I didn’t know too much about it. It kind of was like a legend in NYC, where I grew up. I wanted to learn more about this mysterious Shiny Celebi event, but, as I came to find out, there was hardly anything anywhere about it— the store itself was a mystery.
I first found Grace’s website in late 2017, a few days after she first published it online. I was on my Shiny Celebi quest still. Her website looked very different back then! It was hosted by Weebly and was basically a black-text-on-white-background site with only a few low-res images that she had found of the store. The first thing I noticed was the lack of Pokémon event distribution info. Grace had known about the “Gotta Catch em All!” Station, but she isn’t really a gamer, so she didn’t write much about it on her website. That’s when I first contacted her on Instagram, and, well, the rest is history!
P.S. I did eventually get a real Pokémon Center NY Shiny Celebi.
Grace:
Yes, Julie has been a wonderful addition to the project adding such an important aspect to the store’s history in regards to the distribution events– As Julie mentioned, I am more of a merchandise person, not a gamer, and in creating the website I had no idea of the extent of the role these distribution events played in the history in the store. I am very fortunate to have someone as knowledgeable as Julie to expand on the history of the store with the addition of the gaming events and preservation efforts to the site.
I am in awe of the amount of passion you both have for this! After visiting the website myself, I was blown away by the vast amount of content that has been collected throughout the years. The conceptual drawings of PCNY were especially impressive! Can you explain a bit about the process you go through in order to obtain these assets?
Grace:
As I had mentioned, there really was not much online of the store (pictures, video) when the site was created. As time has passed, new photos or video [footage] would surface on social media platforms, or from Julie and I poking around deep into the internet through archives to obtain as much as we could to get onto the site. For example, the very first footage of PCNY I found was on the archived website of the company that designed the lighting set up in the store. You have to really get creative when hunting. As for the original drawings, I obtained [those] from a former employee of the store who, if I recall correctly, found the website and reached out to me. Julie can expand on other methods like word of mouth as well–
Julie:
Yup! As I mentioned before, I was born and raised in Manhattan, NY, where the store used to be! I grew up going to the Nintendo World store (now, called “Nintendo NY”) and doing tournaments there. I’ve met many people throughout the years who had been to the Pokémon Center NY store, worked there, or knew people who had.
In the beginning of our research era, after we had spent numerous hours searching for information online, I physically went to local video game stores and hangouts to ask people what they knew. I also went to the New York Public Libraries and did research that way as well. However, our big break was when a former employee of Pokémon Center NY contacted us, after finding the website online. We obtained new information, photos, and even architectural drawings for the building.
The most exciting thing (in my opinion) that we have uncovered throughout the years is the distribution disc collection for the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Station. It was completely mind-blowing when they came to our attention.
One of the most exciting items at the store was the Pokémon Distribution Machine, where people could obtain unique Pokémon for their Generation 2 and 3 games. It was thought to be lost forever, but its hardware and software resurfaced some years ago, and there have been efforts to understand its content. What was your reaction when you discovered that this historical system still existed?
Julie:
When the discs were found, my first reaction was disbelief, honestly. I’m part of a group of event data archivists on a website called Project Pokémon. We’re a global community of people who absolutely love the Pokémon franchise and want to keep its digital media safe from data-rot, meaning, we don’t want event distribution data to become inaccessible “lost media” to players down the line.
Project Pokémon only had a little bit of Pokémon Center NY event data backed up at the time, through individual save file donations. Yes, a couple of event Pokémon had been archived before the big discovery, but nowhere near all of them. Plus, we had no idea how the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Station even worked! Some speculated that it was a modified Nintendo 64, but that turned out to be false. The only things we had to go off of were eyewitness accounts of people describing what they saw (or remembered seeing).
As you could imagine, it wasn’t always accurate… Keep in mind that, at the time, we didn’t even have video footage of the store yet, other than a short television commercial that was on YouTube or the lighting test footage that Grace had found. Everything changed when we (the archivist group) got ahold of the discs and the data they held inside. I can’t say too much else publicly about that, but I will say this: we have a comprehensive understanding of how the machine worked and it’s safe from being lost now.
What is the latest news regarding its preservation?
Julie:
Currently, the data from the discs is well-archived and we’re only missing a couple small details for some of the more obscure distributions at the store. A few incredible members of Project Pokémon have come together to rebuild a functional version of the machine— and I can say, from personal experience, that it works! I don’t have physical access to the machine or its raw data myself, but I’ve contributed all the historical info as well as my official Gen II and III Pokémon cartridges over the years for those who do have it to experiment with.
For the legal safety of everyone involved, we cannot publicly release the disc’s raw ROM data, since, well, to be frank, it’s not our property to post online. I know of a new effort that’s currently happening amongst those who have access to the physically-recreated machine to make its data more accessible, but I can’t say much more about it at this time.
If you would like to watch demos of the machine in action, I’ve linked videos from Gridelin (a Project Pokémon superstar who deserves so much more credit than he ever receives online) to the Pokémon Center NY Historical Website’s “Gaming Distribution Events” section. For the time being, I know that all of the event Pokémon that we PCNY preservationists have archived, so far, are available on Project Pokémon’s website as pk2 and pk3 files. They’ve been made publicly available for anyone interested in having their own PCNY Pokémon.
Oh! And one more thing, if you ever see people selling Pokémon Center NY Pokémon distribution services (or cartridges) online, please DO NOT buy from them! They’re most likely either a scam or they’re trying to sell you the free Project Pokémon files that anyone can get. I see this a lot and it bugs me. [Laughs]
The Pokémon Center New York store had a range of items, and based on what I could see, the clock is by far the item I would love to have owned the most. I am curious to learn what your favourite pieces of merchandise are?
Grace:
The Magical Clock is definitely an heirloom piece for sure, and is one of the most sought after items in the collecting community– it used to sell for $300-$400 five years ago, now sells for $5,000+; it’s crazy. Definitely one of my most cherished pieces for sure.
Julie:
Aside from the exclusive digitally-distributed Pokémon from the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Station, I absolutely love the Pokémon Center NY Game Boy Advance system and its accessories. I actually have one that my family bought me for my 20th birthday! Nowadays, they’re a lot harder to find in good condition, for a fair price. Recently, the prices for most Pokémon Center NY items have skyrocketed due to more people learning about the store and its awesome history!
It’s great that you have both been able to obtain some cool items from the PCNY! Do you own anything else?
Grace:
I have been fortunate enough to own quite a variety of PCNY stuff– The Magical Clock, the Charizard skyline porcelain statue, one of the neat picture frame figures, the “Pikalele” (a Pikachu ukulele), some tee-shirts, pins, and other random stuff. My holy grail piece is the PCNY baseball jersey that has been quite difficult to find for whatever reason. As far as plushies go, I have a bunch of the exclusive TOMY plushies, including the Lugia TOMY “Giant”. These “Giant” plushies are very rare and sought after; Julie will expand a bit on them–
Julie:
I’m very fortunate to own a whole bunch of Pokémon Center NY items! In fact, I recently sectioned off an entire glass cabinet space to display them. In addition to event Pokémon and gaming merchandise, I also collect Pokémon plushies (and have been collecting them since I was a little girl). I’d love to eventually find the elusive Meowth and Clefairy PokéDolls or some of the large TOMY “giant” plushies that were once common at the store.
Actually, it’s interesting that you asked us this now, since I actually just paid for a major grail-item of mine late last night; I am now the happy owner of a 2001 TOMY Suicune “giant” plushie! They were sold at the original Pokémon Center Tokyo store in Japan (which is where mine is from) and at the Pokémon Center NY store. I believe they were also sold online through the official Pokémon Center website, back in 2001-2003. Because of their large size, all of the “giants” have become increasingly difficult to find for under $2,500 - $3,000 USD, in recent years.
I got really lucky and, with the help of our mutual friend, Luna, a Japanese Pokémon merchandise collector who owns the company, Legendary Japan Imports, I was able to get my Suicune for a really fair price. Thankfully, I didn’t have to pay anything close to $3,000 USD, which, full-disclosure, would’ve been far too much for me to afford! [Laughs]
There have been many stories and photographs submitted by fans across the website, which ones are your favourites?
Julie:
Oh, wow! That’s a tough one, but I know one specific person who came forward with something that actually made me super emotional. Some of our very first videos of the Pokémon Center NY store came from a person named Katie, who had home video footage of the store from when she visited New York City during the Gen II era. Little did she know that she had sent me the very first video footage of the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Station that we had ever received.
I actually teared up when I first saw it. Years of searching for any information about this big machine on the second floor had become two videos that seemed to have magically appeared in front of me, out of the blue one day. To watch Katie and other kids, in this 20-something-year-old home video, happily interacting with the machine made me feel so glad to have helped preserve everything I could. That’s why I do what I do.
Grace:
Ah, there are so many good ones. Honesty, I had someone come forward with a really good photo of the Mewtwo statue that was at the front of the store in its early years. We never had a good photo of [it until then]. I had been fairly confident that that “statue” is actually the Mewtwo costume from the Pokémon Live stage show that would have ended its tour not long before the store opened. I wasn’t 100% convinced it was because all the photos online were so far away and low quality, but with this up close shot, I am like 99% sure it is the Pokémon Live costume. Just a weird little thing that tickles me, as Pokémon Live is also extremely interesting.
The store had many awesome animatronics of Pokémon that moved around and made the space super cool and fun for anyone attending. Many of these were destroyed once the store was closed for good, but I discovered that Grace was able to obtain the Pikachu! What can you tell us about how you came into possession of such a cool item?
Grace:
I had someone reach out to me on Instagram asking if I could help him value something he had, which is a message I get frequently and I am always happy to help. But the photos he sent me were a shock, it was the Pikachu animatronic straight from PCNY, just sitting on a counter. I about died! He told me his father was an architect of the store and during the conversion of PCNY to Nintendo World, his dad saved it from being tossed away with the other animatronics and has had it ever since.
I made him an offer for it, drove up to New Jersey to pick it up, and now it happily resides in my collection! Can still hardly believe it. It has always been a dream to own some original piece of the store, but I truly believed there was nothing left. Goes to show how life can work in mysterious ways! (I would still pay a ridiculous amount of money for the original PCNY sign though).
Despite the large amount of content on the website, what are some of the holy grail items left to discover?
Grace:
For me, it would be footage of the animatronics– as of now there is no footage of them in action. We don't know for sure besides what former employees recall of how each animatronic moved, or what sounds/music came from them. I firmly believe there's footage somewhere out there on tape from someone’s trip to NYC in the early 2000’s. It's just a matter of getting the word out that we’re looking for it.
Julie:
There are still some event Pokémon from the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Station that have not been found yet. I would love to see them archived one day. Additionally, I would like to see more video footage of the distribution machine or a video of the store’s “Grand Opening” celebration party. We have yet to see what that was like, despite coming close several times.
What’s the likelihood of us ever finding them?
Julie:
I’m confident that we can do it. I mean, we never thought that we’d find the distribution data for the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Station, right? Everyone who ever suggested it was laughed at, for, like, two decades. So, who knows? Anything is possible.
Grace:
For sure, it is just a matter of getting the message out to the right people. I’m confident there is a treasure trove of footage and pictures just sitting in people’s closets and attics.
While the answer may be obvious to many, could you answer why is it so important to preserve the history of the Pokémon Center New York store and distribution information for a space that no longer exists?
Julie:
To some people, it may seem ridiculous to spend so much time searching for scraps of information about a Pokémon store that closed over twenty years ago, but archiving lost media is actually important for the same reasons that we teach and learn about human history in school. Why have museums? Why remember anything? I can already imagine people laughing at this response, but it’s true!
The short answer is this: it’s part of our cultural history and it’s worth remembering. Perhaps a bit more context would help: the Pokémon Center NY store officially opened November 16th, 2001, a little over two months after 9/11 occurred. It was a HUGE deal for families who could make it there, since New York City was essentially shut down in the aftermath of the terrorist attack. People were, understandably, extremely tense during that time and the Pokémon Center NY store offered kids a happy place to visit during a dark time. I consider it to be part of the history of New York City, my home town.
Grace:
Pokémon is the number one selling franchise of all time, and I just feel it would be a disservice to the franchise to let any piece of Pokémon’s story be forgotten, even if the store was a failure in the eyes of The Pokémon Company. The store created childhood memories for thousands of Pokémon fans in its short time period, and we want to ensure that those memories won’t be forgotten with our preservation efforts.
What can people do to support the Pokémon Center New York Historical Website’s preservation efforts?
Julie:
Okay, this may sound silly, but go check your basement or attic. No, really [laughs]. It’s surprising how many people have come to us with things they found buried away in storage. Especially if you think you may have an old family VHS tape or something, please, I beg you, go have it digitally archived. Data rot is a serious problem in the modern era of technology. Lots of VHS tapes, old cameras, photographs, newsprint, etc. are literally rotting away due to improper care, or just aging, in general.
As for event Pokémon data, if you can remember being at the store and downloading something, go check your old Pokémon game cartridges! You may have event Pokémon that haven’t been found yet. If you come across something, there are many archivists over at Project Pokémon who would be more than happy to help you backup your save data. Anyone reading this is welcome to contact me for help, as well. Feel free to email us anything you have at pokemoncenternewyork@gmail.com!
Grace:
Yes! And spread the word! Ask around! Share the link to our site! The more people that come across the site, the higher likelihood of media being discovered.
I am sincerely grateful to you both, not just for your time answering my questions for the interview, but for your immense efforts to preserve the store’s history. Do you have any closing remarks you would like to make?
Julie:
Thank you very much for interviewing us! I’m happy to see that our work has touched so many Pokémon fans out there, all over the world. It makes every long night digging through old blog posts and getting frustrated with internet archives, for me, worth it. I’d also like to thank each and every person who has come to us over these past six years with their personal stories, photos, and videos.
Without all of you, we would have nothing to put on the website! I feel such a deep sense of gratitude for this community and each and every person I’ve met through being a part of it. This fandom can be difficult at times, but it really has brought so much joy to my life. I am so fortunate to have met such wonderful friends and loved ones through our mutual adoration of Pokémon. I look forward to seeing what lies ahead for us!
Grace:
We take such pride in what we have done for the community, and it is such an honor to be able to share our work with the Pokémon community. Thanks so much for letting us share the story of what was the Pokémon Center New York. Be sure to check out our site and our socials to stay connected!
A huge thank you to Julie and Grace for taking the time to tell us all about the Pokémon Center New York Historical Website! If you’d like to check it out for yourself, you can do so at the following links:
The Pokémon Center New York Historical Website
Grace - mewisme700 (Instagram and TikTok)
Julie - tolovelfromvine (Instagram); tolovel (TikTok)
Interview conducted on February 11th 2023
Interview published on March 29th 2023
Fascinating interview! Love that fans are out there making an effort to preserve stuff like this - I remember being a fan back in those days and dreaming of visiting that store, but I'd never been to the US at all until after it was converted into Nintendo World, and knowing there's someone collecting and archiving information about it warms my heart.
I do wish you'd included a photo of the clock that you talked about! The discussion of it as an especially sought-after item piques curiosity, but there's no link or image. Similarly, I was confused to see no link to the website at all until a text one that needed to be copy-pasted at the very bottom - it would've been neat to include some clickable links within the main body text!
Thank you so much for interviewing me! It was lovely to get to discuss the whole story behind the Pokémon Center NY Historical Website with you. Thanks again for sharing the story of our preservation efforts with the world! 😊