Samの英語チャンネル

Okayama branch has more to say than just goodbye.

Running a Pokémon specialty shop in Japan seems like about the surest recipe for success you could come up with, and over the years fans have made a lot of happy memories at the Pokémon Store in Okayama City’s Aeon Mall. Sure, it may not be as big as the Pokémon Center megastores in Japan’s largest cities, but the Okayama Pokémon Store is still packed full of plushies, pins, stationary, and all sorts of other Poké-merch. There’s even an adorable statue of Pikachu, dressed as local folk hero Momotaro/Peach Boy greeting guests as they come into the shop.

Alas, it’s all coming to an end soon, as the management has announced that the shop will be closing on August 31. Local Poké-fans are understandably bummed, and with less than two weeks left, many have been stopping by for one last shopping run, including Japanese Twitter user @koebito. While there, he picked up a Marshtomp plushie and two reusable shopping bags, but when he got his receipt, he noticed there were four items listed on it.

今月一杯で閉店してしまうポケモンストアのレシートが殺しに来てる。。
お世話になりました。。 pic.twitter.com/bBL29n46ZD

— 声人 (@koebito) August 16, 2021

The first item, at 1,210 yen (US$11), is the Marshtomp (or Numakuro, as the species is called in Japanese) plushie, written as ヌイグルミFヌマクロー. Under that are the two 275-yen reusable bags (リユーザブルバッグ), totaling 550 yen. The last item, though, is mysteriously priced at 0 yen.

But it all makes sense one you know that ダイスキナキミヘイママデアリガトウ means:

“Thank you for everything until now. We love you.”

“The receipt from the Pokémon Store is killing me,” tweets @koebito of the heartstring pulling message, and commenters were quick to agree:

“That’s one receipt I’d never be able to throw away.”
“Now I really regret not shopping there more often when I had the chance.”
“My husband and I are moving to Okayama next year, and we were looking forward to going there.”
“I’ve been to that store with my daughter so many times. We even lined up for their lucky bags at New Year’s…I want one of those receipts too, so we’ll have to go again before the end of the month.”

There’s a bit of a silver lining, as the Pokémon Center online store ships nationwide. Still, it’s sad to see the Okayama Pokémon Store go, but at least it’s warming visitors’ hearts one last time as it says goodbye.

Shop information
Pokémon Store (Aeon Okayama branch) / ポケモンストア イオンモール岡山店
Address: Okayama-ken, Okayama-shi, Kita-ku, Shimoishii 1-2-1, Aeon Mall Okayama 3rd floor
岡山県岡山市北区下石井1丁目2番1号　イオンモール岡山3F
Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Website

Source: Twitter/@koebito via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pokémon official website
Insert images: Pokémon official website, Twitter/@koebito
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Source: SORA NEWS24