Nintendo Opens Pop-Up Store in Bochum, Germany This Spring

Nintendo's first pop-up store in Germany opened March 19 at Westfield Ruhr Park in Bochum, tucked between a Decathlon and a Jolifin salon inside the Am Einkaufszentrum 1 shopping complex. The store runs through April 11, except on public holidays, and as of today's regular opening, reservations are no longer required: Nintendo has switched to a standard queue system after three ticketed-entry days to manage what it anticipated would be a massive influx of visitors.

The Bochum location is only the second Nintendo store of its kind in a European shopping center, following the London Nintendo store. Prior temporary retail appearances in Europe, including activations at Japan Expo in Paris and Zurich Pop Con, were event-bound rather than mall-based. Nintendo's permanent flagship stores remain in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, New York, and San Francisco, making the Bochum pop-up a rare European foothold of any duration.

Merchandise spans seven of Nintendo's core franchises: Pikmin, Super Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and Kirby. The store also carries the first official German selection of My Mario, Nintendo's toddler-focused product line, which had not previously had a domestic retail presence in Germany.

Nintendo had structured the first three days, March 19 through 21, as ticketed entry, with reservations available from March 5 through the store's website. Each reservation secured a specific date and time slot to avoid long waits. The status of March 22 was not specified in Nintendo's official communications; today, March 23, marks the start of the walk-in phase.

For visitors with the Pikmin Bloom app installed, the store doubles as an in-game Special Spot through April 11. Swiping down on that spot generates a Gold Seedling that grows into a Red Photo Button Badge Decor Pikmin. Participation is triggered on-site by scanning a QR code with a smartphone, and Nintendo describes the activity as a free virtual walk within the app. Visitors also receive Pikmin-style sticky notes as a physical keepsake, while supplies last.

Store-specific updates are being posted to a dedicated Nintendo X account, @NintendoPopUpDE, with general announcements continuing through Nintendo's main X, Facebook, and Instagram channels. Specific daily opening and closing hours, ticket pricing details, and any capacity limits were not disclosed in Nintendo's public materials and would need to be confirmed directly through the store's website or Nintendo of Europe.