A wave of global fandom brands now treats Philippine malls as real retail territory, and the first Pokemon Center pop-up store is the clearest test yet.
For years, getting your hands on genuine Pokemon Center merchandise meant one of three things: flying to Japan, Singapore, or Taiwan, paying a reseller markup online, or hoping a relative’s balikbayan box had room for a Pikachu plush. The Philippines never had an official Pokemon retail footprint of its own, despite ranking among the franchise’s most engaged fan bases in the region. That changes this October, when the country’s first Pokemon Center pop-up store opens at SM Mall of Asia and runs through January 2027.
The announcement, made during a July 7 press conference in Manila, positions the store as part of Pokemon’s global 30th anniversary campaign. But treat this as more than a birthday event. It is the latest and largest entry in a retail pattern that Philippine malls have been quietly building for two years.
A Retail Pattern That Started Before Pokemon Showed Up
Funko opened its first Southeast Asia flagship at SM Mall of Asia in July last year, and the company was blunt about why. The Philippines, its Asia sales lead said, is Funko’s single biggest market in the region. Pop Mart has run repeat pop-ups at both SM Mall of Asia and SM Makati, each one drawing lines that pre-registration systems struggled to manage. Sanrio has built a near permanent presence through Miniso collaborations. One Piece got its own installation tour. NewJeans x LINE Friends merchandise landed at SM Megamall on a three-month run.
None of these were one-off marketing stunts. Each treated a Manila mall as a legitimate retail channel, not a courtesy stop on a regional tour. The Pokemon Center pop-up store fits squarely into that same logic, just at a bigger scale and with more brand weight behind it.
The Pokemon Center Pop-Up Store Enters an Already Warm Market
What makes the Pokemon Center pop-up store different from a standard licensed merchandise counter is the format itself. Pokemon Center branding is normally reserved for company-operated flagship locations in a handful of countries. The Manila store carries that same label, stocked with Pokemon Center Original merchandise, trading cards, plushies, and anniversary exclusives, plus TCG tutorial sessions and a gaming booth.
The Pokemon Company has been careful with its language here. A representative confirmed there are no current plans for a permanent Philippine store, calling this a temporary anniversary initiative rather than a market entry. That distinction matters for how the industry should read this. A pop-up carries none of the fixed overhead or long-term lease risk of a flagship. It lets the brand measure real demand against actual foot traffic before committing capital to anything permanent.
SM’s Playbook: Traffic First, Commitment Later
The pop-up store does not stand alone. Pokemon RUN 30, a paid fun run through SM Mall of Asia, kicks off the celebration on October 3 and 4, with registration priced at 2,450 to 3,450 pesos depending on tier. A six month mall caravan then carries Pokemon activations to eight SM properties nationwide, from SM North EDSA to SM Seaside Cebu. The celebration closes with PokeXciting, a free two day festival at SM Mall of Asia in January 2027.
This is SM Supermalls supplying what it has in abundance, real estate and consistent traffic, in exchange for what The Pokemon Company supplies, a globally recognized IP with built in demand. Neither side needs to build awareness from scratch. The mall gets a multi month reason for repeat visits. The brand gets a low risk way to test the Philippine market without opening a single permanent location.
What This Signals About Filipino Collector Spending
The willingness of Filipino consumers to pay entry fees for a themed fun run, queue for pop-up merchandise, and travel across cities for a caravan stop tells you something about where discretionary spending is going. Urban professionals with steady income are treating fandom retail the way they once treated concert tickets or travel, as an experience worth budgeting for, not an impulse buy.
Global brands have noticed. Funko called the Philippines its top Asia market by choice, not by accident. Pop Mart keeps coming back because the lines keep forming. The Pokemon Center pop-up store is the biggest name yet to make that same bet, and its performance over the next six months will likely shape how the next global IP decides to enter Manila retail.
The pattern is already set. What is left to see is which brand follows Pokemon through the door SM just opened.
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