Nintendo’s flagship store in Tokyo not big enough for its fan base

Bloomberg

Just before Christmas last year, a trip to Nintendo Co’s flagship store in Tokyo would have required an hour’s wait just to get in and buy a plush Mario toy or a set of chopsticks bearing Luigi’s face.
Opened in November on the sixth floor of the renovated Shibuya Parco shopping mall, the constantly packed 300-square-metre showcase exhibits the appeal of Nintendo’s intellectual property contrasted against the conservatism that leads it to habitually underestimate the popularity of its products.
The long lines of shoppers are a sign of the customer loyalty that Nintendo’s counting on in 2020 as it ramps up its mobile efforts and ponders successors to the aging Switch.
A deluge of fans — foreign and local — has overwhelmed Nintendo’s outlet since the moment it opened.
Staff on the premises said there hasn’t yet been a day without a long line of people waiting to get in, despite the company distributing numbered tickets before opening its doors at 10 am each day.
“The shop is a new type of advertisement. Advertising has usually been a cost, but Nintendo is turning it into a profit, just as they did in smartphone games,” said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute. “If people make a social media post saying it took them hours to enter the shop, it
will have an advertising effect that can’t be measured by money.”
The line to get into Nintendo’s emporium typically overflows down a nearby staircase. Once inside, shoppers don’t get much space — it’s a compact venue for one of Japan’s biggest and most globally renowned brands.
In an email, Nintendo spokesman Tomokazu Nakaura said the company is “grateful to many people visiting every day” since the opening and “sorry to keep customers waiting.”
While retailers sometimes limit access to enhance their brand, the Tokyo outlet’s
limited real estate suggests Nintendo has once again undershot in its projections.
Like a Japanese version of Star Wars, Nintendo can — and does — put its brand on practically every type of quotidian item. In the store, there are
T-shirts, phone cases, pajamas, cushions, notebooks, backpacks and every type of
plushie in the expanded Nintendo universe.
Legend of Zelda neckties and hoodies rest alongside Animal Crossing pens and pans. The latest addition to the range is a pair of salt and pepper shakers.