The Pokémon Company is once again risking a poké-palava at a museum, with the announcement of a pop-up store at London’s Natural History Museum selling exclusive items.
Back in 2023, a Pokémon collaboration was launched with Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum featuring six Pokémon paintings and a store selling an exclusive Pikachu trading card. Yet scalpers descended on the museum, eventually leading to four employees being suspended – one allegedly embezzled a box of cards.
Now The Pokémon Company is moving to London for its first pop-up in a UK museum, and it’s all about evolution – and Pokémon’s 30th anniversary.
“There is such a wonderful alignment between Pokémon and the Natural History Museum – we’re obviously both big fans of the natural world and its evolution and diversity,” said Adam Farrar, director of commercial and visitor experience for the museum. “We hope this collaboration will spark joy and curiosity in the creatures around us, both in the world of Pokémon and Earth.”
The store will sell clothing, stationary, accessories, prints, and a brand-new exclusive plushie toy – it’s a Pikachu hugging the museum, as below.
“Design inspiration has been drawn directly from the Natural History Museum’s iconic building and architecture, as well as the beautiful naturalist sketches that fill the Museum’s archives,” said Mathieu Galante, senior director of licensing for Pokémon Europe. “We are excited to be working with the Natural History Museum to create this fun pop-up store for fans of all ages.”
Note, however, the pop-up is not a Pokémon Centre.
What’s more, in an attempt to prevent scalping, free tickets will be required to attend the store. These will be available online from 1st October, but you can sign up to be the first to hear.
The pop-up will run from 26th January to 22nd March next year, with the product range also available to buy online from the Natural History Museum shop from January – all purchases will support the museum’s charitable mission of supporting scientific research into the planetary emergency.
Some products will additionally be available to buy from the Pokémon Centre UK official online store.
Let’s hope it doesn’t cause another chaotic fiasco over exclusive items, for which The Pokémon Company has to apologise.
