Nintendo Store San Francisco - Grand Opening

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SF Nintendo Store 


I went on opening weekend in May 2025 (and another weekend in June) and it was fun to visit the West Coast's first Nintendo store open to the public. 

  • TIPS: 
    • Avoid a weekend if possible. 
    • Follow their social media (i.e. instagram) for special events! 
    • Have your Nintendo QR code prepared on a smartphone for extra points. 

Where: near Union Square/the Westin. 

Reservation process for opening weekend: stressful - only found out about it through Instagram and the spots were filled within a few minutes.


Wait time: about an hour to get in- on the weekend.

Store is easily divided into franchises - i.e. Mario, Animal Crossing, etc. Switch Hardware is in one area, along with demo areas downstairs. There are cashiers on both floors.

Merch (afternoon on Saturday of opening weekend) 






Animal crossing 



Downstairs: Pikmin, Pokemon, Zelda

























The only perk of going grand opening weekend was getting a limited edition coin for spending over $50.




Overall thoughts: 

A lot of the merch is priced similar to what you find online: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/merchandise/, with tags on exclusive items such as SF themed shirts and hats [which are sparse/I did not get in my size after two visits]. They had a special event for Switch 2 launch and my friend got a free hat. Hopefully the hype has died down a bit because I spent more time waiting in line than shopping, but for Nintendo fans it is a welcome addition to the city!

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