Nintendo has opened its second ever shop

It’s fair to say that Nintendo isn’t rushing to populate every high street with a store any time soon. Fourteen years after the lovable Japanese company opened a bricks and mortar shop in New York’s Rockefeller Center, it’s finally opened another one in Tel Aviv, Israel.

At 4pm UK time on 24th June, Nintendo opened the doors of its second store in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Center to customers who had lined up to check out shiny Switch products, amiibo, and Super Mario merch. There was an option to play demos near the entrance, and also to check out forthcoming game previews on big screens dotted around the Israeli shopping mall curio – we say ‘curio’ because the grand opening came just months after Israel finally got access to its own official online Nintendo store.

For those of you who know deep down that there isn’t a trip to New York or Israel in your immediate future, there’s a sliver of hope that you might someday be able to get a taste of the whole experience, as Nintendo has also confirmed that it’s planning to open a shop in Tokyo later on in 2019, so we’ve got our fingers crossed that a London unit might become a reality one day. After all… two in one year after a 14-year gap? That’s technically an escalation!

We admit, seeing punters line up in their hundreds waiting for the Tel Aviv shop to open and being welcomed by Mario, Luigi, and Pikachu mascots with open arms left us pining for our own little Nintendo store experience.

In the meantime, all we can do is live vicariously through these shared social posts.

Sighhhh…

Nintendo Israel shop is open now
got some pictures (sent by my friend)
i'll go once they get SwSh demo pic.twitter.com/bx4G3WP8KN

— Dynamax Lucario #TeamSword ⚔️ (@lucariospl) 24 June 2019

Mazal Tov! Thousands of smiles today in Israel with Tel Aviv Nintendo store opening in Dizengoff Center. Thank you Eran Tor & Ron Kaldes for Mezuzah now in place, and to the Ambassador of Japan in Israel @IsraelinJapan for his presence #NintendoSwitch #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/poZPB16Rdc

— Stephan Bole (@SB6578) 24 June 2019

Nintendo Store @ Tel Aviv, Israel pic.twitter.com/Qy2ywlKh0X

— Meitav Kleinfeld 🔜 Gamescom (@MacroKrome) 24 June 2019