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At the time of writing the note, we are just minutes away from the start of the 2022 Pokémon World Championships (Pokémon World Championships 2022, in English), which will take place in London, England. To celebrate it with the fans of that region, The Pokémon Company announced weeks ago that it would take the temporary Pokémon Center store to the venue where the event would be held and, despite the planning, once again the situation got out of control.
Although the competitions would start until today at dawn (Mexico City time), the store was inaugurated 1 day before, on August 17. As with the 2019 edition, the store was expected to cause a huge ruckus; Having learned from what happened that time, it was expected that there would be no chaos, but the truth is that it happened again and the waiting lines are tens of meters long, which translates into hours of waiting to enter the store.
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The Pokémon Center in London has problems again
Taking into account that anyone could visit it, since the entrance was not exclusive to the holders of tickets for the competition; that there is no other physical store in the region; that there would be many tourists who traveled to enjoy the tournament, and that exclusive items from this edition would be sold, such as the Pikachu plush and Roserade with clothing that evokes London (Beefeater), it was expected that there would be a lot of people in the store.
So it happened and even before opening its doors inside the ExCel Center compound, the temporary Pokémon Center caused a huge line of people to form eager to enter the store.
The Pokémon Company had an online system available to optionally book a visit days in advance, which would secure a spot in an orderly and easy way (limited reservations), the other option was to join a virtual queue once on site, which it would make it possible to secure a place in line while exploring the enclosure, without the need to be in line.
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The line to enter the Pokémon Center in London is huge
Everything sounded great in the plan, but the execution went wrong. According to attendees who exposed the situation on social networks, as soon as the store opened its doors there was chaos and it did not take long for the reservations to go into the background, since it was enough that the hours of a few were not respected for all subsequent reservations will be delayed along with the virtual queue.
Over time, the reservations and the virtual queue became one waiting list. And of course, the virtual line had nothing, since the visitors preferred to remain physically formed for fear that if they left, no one would respect their place. In fact, there was nothing in line either, since it was rather a mass of people who advanced as they could accommodate themselves: a total mess.
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The row for the pokemon center at worlds LMAO pic.twitter.com/EHqxGSrEx3
— Jimray3 (@Jimray3mta) August 17, 2022
Me: Well I wont be a dick and try and hang around before my Pokemon Center timeslot, I’ll just go at my time.
Pokemon Center: Hey, have you considered going and fucking yourself? All appointments must join the big queue anyway. pic.twitter.com/UizU67gZJg— DJGigabyte (@DJGigabyte) August 17, 2022
Good thing we had an appointment system for the Pokémon Center ? pic.twitter.com/i4x51vFZc6
– Nico Alabas (@carrypotter_1) August 17, 2022
The Pokémon center has been one of the most poorly managed things I’ve ever seen. Nobody has the right information and we’ve been told different things by different people. #pokemonworlds
— Gio™ ?? (@the_one_gio) August 17, 2022
Good thing we had an appointment system for the Pokémon Center ? pic.twitter.com/i4x51vFZc6
– Nico Alabas (@carrypotter_1) August 17, 2022
Pokémon center line system crashed from what I was told by someone that works here and the entire line is just smushed now barely moving if moving at all and the entire appointment system is out the door they have told everyone to just wait in line regardless or appointments . pic.twitter.com/ha3krzC4ER
— Calvin Connor (@calvinconnor12) August 17, 2022
Waiting in line to get into the Pokémon Center. #London pic.twitter.com/iQYdkMXOBo
– NintenRuben (@NintenRuben) August 17, 2022
Long queue at @Pokemon center #PokémonCenter pop-up shop at the #Pokemon World Championships 2022 in London, despite a pre-booking system.#photography#Editorial#Photojournalism pic.twitter.com/rpBh1CiLOA
— Howard @ Life By Stills (@LifeByStills) August 17, 2022
The Pokémon Center pop up in London is an excellent case study in how not to manage crowds in a queue.
— Riley Hulbert (@smileswithriles) August 17, 2022
The pop-up Pokémon Center in London is every Pokémon fan’s dream ? pic.twitter.com/mB1BG6J4bM
— GAMINGbible (@gamingbible) August 17, 2022
This is not the first time this has happened. Let us remember that in 2019 The Pokémon Company for the first time opened a temporary Pokémon Center in the United Kingdom and the results were the same, a lot of chaos, disorder and schedules that were not respected, apart from the fact that the merchandise ran out before the time of closing.
There are videos online showing how long the waiting line is; At first glance, it can be estimated that the extension is tens of meters and it could well be hundreds of meters in the coming days, when there will be more fans in the place.
The temporary Pokémon Center in London, England, will be open to the public from August 17 to 21. We do not doubt that the problems on the opening day will also occur in the remaining days of operation of the store.
What do you think of the logistics of the Pokémon Center in London? Tell us in the comments.
The 2022 Pokémon World Championship is taking place in London, England, in person, although there are also broadcasts over the Internet. At LEVEL UP we will inform you of the announcements made at the event.
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