Much like my relationship, the Pokémon Center has officially soft-launched online in Australia and New Zealand. If you’ve been waiting (im)patiently to cop official Pokémon merchandise in our neck of the woods since news of the opening of an Aussie online store dropped, get your wallets ready: as spotted by VOOKS, it’s finally time.
Based on the FAQs and a quick browse of the site, there’s a slightly different range to what’s available in other regions with the Pokémon Center online store, although the site does say to check back frequently for updates – the welcome message promises that the team is “working hard to add new product lines continually.” Unfortunately, this means you can’t yet treat yourself to 34 inches of Lapras, but hey! There’s a Lapras fedora if you’re freaky like that (and a whole heap of apparel and plushies to choose from).
While the Pokémon Center FAQ does note that any Australian and New Zealand address can be delivered to, the pop-up on the site notes that only Australian addresses can receive deliveries and the checkout seems to not have an option for NZ deliveries just yet – whether this is one of the “hiccups” mentioned in the welcome message as the site gets on its feet isn’t quite clear yet.
The products available on the Aussie Pokémon Center website do appear to be shipping from another country, with shipping costs coming in at slightly higher than your average local retailer (on checking a Victorian address, an 8-inch Pikachu plushie would cost around $15AUD to ship regularly, or almost $30 to express post). Whether we’ll see this change and find those very tempting Pokémon Center goods shipped direct from Australia or NZ in future with a shipping cost (and time) decrease to boot is anyone’s guess right now.
Are you keen to cop some goodies from the Aussie Pokémon Center online store? Let us know what you’re eyeballing in the comments.
Image: Pokémon Company International / Kotaku Australia
Leave a Reply