San Francisco is getting more playful this week as Nintendo officially opened doors in Union Square, drawing enthusiastic lifelong video game fans from across California. This newly opened store from one of Japan’s most famous gaming companies allows shoppers to purchase merchandise from worlds like the Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule and Kanto.
Doug Bowser, the president of Nintendo of America, and company mascot Mario assisted Mayor Daniel Lurie in the inaugural ribbon cutting Thursday afternoon before allowing the first group of shoppers inside for the first time.
“This is a great day for San Francisco and for generations of Nintendo fans,” said Lurie, who has made revitalizing downtown a goal. “I remember as a kid I would be told to go to bed and I’d get in bed and then I’d say goodnight to my parents and then I’d sneak the Game Boy underneath the covers and I played until late into the night.”
Reservations are required to shop at the store during its opening week. The excitement of a new video game landmark on the West Coast empowered hundreds of people to wake up before 9 a.m. on May 1 to reserve timeslots to enter the store, completely booking its first week in about an hour.
A dozen fans stood in the sun waiting for their reserved times to shop, in Splatoon and Mario costumes, as well as hoodies from Nintendo’s other U.S. store in New York City.
Justin Nguyen came from San Jose by train to be one of the first people in the store.
“I was fortunate enough to get a 2 p.m. initially, but then someone dropped their reservation for 1 p.m. and I managed to pick that up,” said Nguyen, who hoped to pick up items from Nintendo franchises such as Mario, Pokémon, Kirby and Fire Emblem for his friends, family and himself.
In Lurie’s speech, he said he knew the store would draw people from across California.
Luca Colucci, a Sacramento resident, drove down Thursday morning to purchase Splatoon merch.
“I’m also mainly here to hang out with friends and just have a good time,” Colucci said.
Colucci, like others there on opening day, had visited New York’s Nintendo store multiple times, but was glad to have a new one within driving distance.
Another hardcore fan, Trevor Strohl, came not only to shop but to serenade the community with jazzy renditions of Nintendo music on his saxophone. As the DJ bounced from Mario themes to songs from Pokémon and Donkey Kong, Strohl kept up with them not missing a beat while people grooved to the music.
Strohl was adorned in a hat and T-shirt that said “Character Select,” his jazz fusion band that specializes in playing video game music and is local to the Bay Area.
Although many people’s reserved times were over an hour after the grand opening, they waited across the street from the store with friends and fellow fans that they had met that day.
The community that Nintendo built over decades of video game creation showed up for this event, and are expected to continue to show up as Nintendo stores usually host live viewings of their “Nintendo Direct” presentations.
This summer’s Nintendo Switch 2 console launch will most likely draw in hundreds of fans to the location as well. Strohl and some other fans were able to get Switch 2s and plan to get accessories from the new store.
“I’ll probably come back once I get that for all the accessories and everything,” Strohl said.
“We are especially proud that Nintendo chose San Francisco and chose Union Square for this new store,” Lurie said. “Union Square is iconic and it’s historic and it’s coming back. It’s the heart of our city’s shopping and visitor experience, and it’s bouncing back.”
