Vol. 3, Issue 4 - Tatton's Pokémon Center New York Memories
The memories of a Pokémon fan called Tatton, and his visit to the Pokémon Center New York store, in July 2002, plus a recap of the latest Pokémon news
Welcome to Vol. 3, issue 4 of Johto Times! This week, we are sharing the memories of a Pokémon fan called Tatton and his visit to the Pokémon Center New York store with his friends in July 2002. In addition to this, Tatton has included many amazing photographs from his visit, giving us an opportunity to see what the store was like during one of its events. Plus, we have our usual recap of Pokémon news!
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News
The latest Pokémon TCG expansion, Prismatic Evolutions, released last week. The set has been a huge hit with trading card fans and Eeveelution fans who are trying to obtain their favourite cards from the set. Unfortunately, some fans have been experiencing difficulties in obtaining cards, leading to an official statement on the matter.
In a press release, The Pokémon Company announced that some fans may experience difficulties during the launch period, and that they are actively working to reprint more Prismatic Evolutions cards as quickly as possible and at maximum capacity.
Meanwhile, the Pokémon Center Singapore store announced that they would not be selling Prismatic Evolutions at all during January 17th, 18th, and 19th, 2025, due to safety concerns after a crowd of more than 1,000 people gathered outside of the store ahead of its launch, obstructing walkways. Police from the Airport Police Division helped to disperse the large crowd. Pokémon Center Singapore specifically stated this was to "ensure a safe environment" for guests. The set was still available to purchase online at the time.
Source: Pokémon, Pocket Monsters
From January 21st until February 24th, customers at McDonald's restaurants can find a four-card booster pack containing one holo card in every Happy Meal. The set contains fifteen cards, which include Charizard, Umbreon, Pikachu, and Eevee, and are reprints from other Pokémon TCG sets. Happy Meals also come with a sticker activity sheet.
Source: Pokémon
The official Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket account has shared some details regarding the app’s upcoming trading feature ahead of its launch later this month. Trading can be done between friends, but only with cards of the same rarity. At the time of launch, certain cards from Genetic Apex and Mythical Island will be able to be traded, which will be expanded upon. Cards with a rarity up to 1 star can be traded, and items must be consumed in order to trade. The company has promised to monitor feedback from players and be mindful of balancing the ease and enjoyability of collecting. In addition to this, new Booster Packs will be added later this month, expanding the selection of cards even further.
The game is also celebrating an impressive milestone of 40 billion cards being obtained in the game. To mark the occasion, players are able to claim a promo card called “Pokédex” until April 30th, 2025.
Source: Pokémon TCG Pocket
Just before our latest issue went live, a new trailer released by the official Pokémon YouTube channel has confirmed that the next Pokémon TCG Pocket set will be called Space-Time Smackdown, and will release on January 30th, 2025. The set seems to be mostly focused on Pokémon and characters found in the Sinnoh region and features two new booster packs featuring Dialga and Palkia.
Several new cards were confirmed in the trailer: Dialga ex, Palkia, Pachirisu ex, and Sinnoh first partner Pokémon Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup. The Cynthia Supporter card will also be one to watch out for, given her immense popularity. It was also confirmed that trading will be introduced to the game on January 29th, 2025. We will share any further updates about the new set in our next issue.
Source: Pokémon YouTube Channel
Feature: Tatton's Pokémon Center New York Memories
The Pokémon Center New York store opened on November 16th, 2001, and lasted until January 19th, 2005. At the time, it was the first store of its kind outside of Japan. It featured a huge range of Pokémon-themed merchandise, exclusive items, areas for play, and interactive elements. On July 22nd, 2002, a Pokémon fan named Tatton, along with two of his friends, visited the store on their first trip to NYC. In addition to sharing his fond memories of the trip, Tatton also took plenty of fantastic photographs, giving us a rare view of the store during its “Pikachu’s Vacation” event.
Back in 2002, I found out that one of my coworkers was also a big Puffy (AmiYumi) fan. When they announced their first US tour, New York City was the closest stop that lined up with our schedules. We grabbed tickets for their show at Irving Plaza and planned our first trip to NYC. We could only stay for a few days, so before we left, my friend, his girlfriend, and I each picked the one thing we wanted to do while we were up there. My pick was easy. I wanted to go to the Pokémon Center New York. I had been playing Pokémon games since Pokémon Yellow came out and was immediately hooked. The Pokémon Mini had been out for over 6 months in the US and the Pokémon Center was the only way to get one outside of resellers on eBay. I had my heart set on picking one up while we were there.
We drove overnight from Columbus, Ohio and arrived in New York City the morning of the day of the concert. After checking into the little hotel, we went to Times Square and I got a chance to explore the giant Toys “R” Us. I think it was like four or five floors. There was a huge Ferris wheel inside that had different cars representing different types of toys and characters. There was even a Pokémon car with Ash, Pikachu, and Charizard on it. After exploring Times Square some more, we made our way over to see Puffy at the Irving Plaza. It was amazing! We’d seen pictures of Puffy filling huge venues in Japan. At the Irving Plaza, we were like 60-70 feet away from them. We even got to meet them at the merch booth when we bought our autograph cards and shirts. Over the next couple days, we explored different parts of the city and checked off the rest of the places on our list.
The Pokémon Center was out of the way from the other places we were going, so we went on the last day and we had a limited amount of time to hang out there. As we approached from the outside, we were greeted by a bunch of giant Pokémon plushies and shirts that were visible from through the windows. We went inside and found the most Pokémon merchandise I’d ever seen in one place before. Throughout the store there were lots of statues of different Pokémon. According to the people who worked there, each of the statues were scaled to how big the Pokémon would be in real life. There was a giant Pokéball emblem laid into the tile floor right inside the door, and more Pokémon statues were on the shelves and attached to columns. Oh yeah, and there were two floors!
At the top of the second floor hung a giant animatronic Pokéball that would open up to display a light show on a periodic basis. I think it might have been hourly. The main thing I remember about the second floor were stations where you could play different Pokémon games and a Catch’em Station where you could get rare Pokémon sent to your GBA cart. Unfortunately there was quite a bit that wasn’t working. Several of the statues that were animatronic were motionless, and the Catch’em Station was down as well. Of course, throughout the store were tons of shelves of almost every type of product you could imagine at the time. There was clothing, figurines, toys, pins, etc... And plushies. Loads of plushies of all sizes.
The time we had to spend quickly evaporated and I grabbed as many things as I could afford with the money I had left over. There was a bundle deal where you could get a Pokémon Mini with a bag, hand towel, charm, and two games. I got the Wooper one for myself and I think I grabbed a Chikorita bundle for one of my friends back home. I also bought two GBA cases (one for me and one for my friend) and three grand opening celebration pins (one for me, one for my friend, and one for my nephew). There was a small wall filled with motorized clocks. At a glance, they were a bit simple with a Pokéball in the middle and the hours in a ring around it. However, the two sides of the Pokéball would slide apart and reveal several Pokémon pictures in circles inside. It was originally $350 and they had them on sale for $150. I would have splurged on one if we had gone there earlier. Alas, on the last stop of the last day, it wasn’t meant to be.
The people who were working there were all wonderful and it was nice to get to nerd out with them a little. As I left, I couldn’t help but think about when I’d be able to make another trip back up there to visit the store again.
The whole trip was full of amazing experiences and wonderful memories. Pokémon has only gotten more and more popular since then. Even though we are lucky enough to currently have stores like Original 151 in Dayton that are full of Pokémon merchandise, there was something magical about that Pokémon Center in NYC that has been lost to time. Back then, I had no idea that this would be my only opportunity to visit an official Pokémon Center. I’m glad I made the effort to take a bunch of pictures while I was there, and I’m happy to have this opportunity to share them with other people who may not have had the chance to visit it when it was around. Over 20 years later, I still have everything I bought while I was there. I got each of the items back together and took pictures of them to share as well.
Additional photographs
A huge thank you to Tatton for sharing his memories of his visit to the Pokémon Center New York store. The photographs provided are of exceptional quality and give us a clear view of what the store looked like back then, especially during one of its events, which would have run for a short amount of time.
For more information on the center, be sure to check out our interview with the Pokémon Center NY Historical Website that was conducted in March 2023, and our interview with its General Manager that was published in March 2024.
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Great photos! Wooper is the BEST!!!
I was there in the early aughts and I loved it! I remember being so excited. I have a couple of the mugs from the store (I can’t remember what else I got), but I’ve always coveted one of the baseball shirts.