Bandai Japan to Close Last Tama Depa

[tamapalace]

Bandai Japan has just published some of the saddest news on TamaTV.com. We regret to inform you that the last and final Tama Depa; the popular Tamagotchi department store, will be closing. You may remember there being two Tama Depa’s in Japan, but the one in the Tokyo Station closed last June. Bandai Japan has decided to permanently close the Tama Depa in Harajuku, the last remaining location at 7PM on February 26th.

No reason has been provided for the closure of the final Tama Depa, but we must assume it was related to slow sales and the declining interest in the Tamagotchi brand. Bandai Japan is advising Tamagotchi fans to purchase Tamagotchi merchandise at Bandai’s online shop after the closure of the Tama Depa.

 

[Sakujima Iwata]

The only reason why I wanted to go to Harajuku...thanks Bandai for killing off your most important franchises, you're officially the new Konami...and thanks for making me hate Cocotama.But yeah, never close the Precure store, Precure is far more important than Tamas I guess...thanks for killing the franchise on its 20th anniversary...I just want to cry in a corner, I hope the Cocotama craze will fade someday, I just can't stand that Hamtaro ripoff anymore.

 

[MarshyMellow]

There goes my chance of getting Tamagotchi stuff from there if I go to Japan one day.. Oh well, there's still the Moomin cafe and Kirby cafe! ^_^ Still a shame, though. I'd totally want a Memetchi keychain..

 

[N4LLLC]

Obviously, the franchise isn't doing well in Japan either, sadly.

 

[yawnkun]

The thing is, it's kind of hard to push the Tamagotchi brands to new generation of possible customers because they have tablets and smartphones to compete with, to which the functionality and connectivity of Tamagotchi pales in comparison with lol. So the new kids would rather have a 3DS or another console (Nintendo Switch perhaps), smartphone or tablet to play with rather than a Tamagotchi.

While the Tama Depa is closing, I think they strengthened their ties with Toys R Us in Japan for distribution of mechandise, where you can find their m!x stations and other m!x-related merchandise. When I went to Tokyo around a year ago, I wasn't able to go to Harajuku, but I constantly found sections for Tamagotchi (I think it was the 4U+ back then) in various toy and hobby shops. You just have to be patient and be able to look around if you're searching for Tamagotchi-related stuff now, perhaps.

It's obvious that the stronger market of the Tamagotchi brand are the people who played Tamagotchi before and have grown up with the brand.

It's a pity that Tamagotchi is dying. But Bandai of course still gives the small audience something to enjoy, there's the new Sanrio m!x coming up, and I'm pretty sure they'll be releasing more accessories and merchandise along with the upcoming movie that commemorates the 20th anniversary. They haven't released any mobile downloads for the m!x either, and they haven't leveraged too much on the password function on the mixtv site, so that's still something to look forward too as well.

 

[PokemonBecky]

It has been a dream of mine, for along time, to visit the Tama Depa. It no longer seems like that is possible. I hope the franchise will be able to do well and maybe we'll see the tama depa re-open.

 

[Magicgotchi]

This makes me really sad

Tama Depa was one of my must visits for when I plan my trip to Japan.

 

[CreepyCutie]

I feel like Bandai is sort of ignoring the tamagotchi brand, not that they aren't producing anything it's just they don't try to market it as much as they used to. I think their too focused on their other franchises and it's really sad.

I still love tamagotchi because they are a well made virtual pet meanwhile any app I get on my phone for virtual pets are annoying and cheap and have boring designs..

 

[Popgotchi]

To be fair, Tamagotchis have been in a general decline what with the changes in technology and toys. Kids nowadays would rather be on their devices than raise a virtual pet.

Plus, the Japanese Tamas contain more interesting content than the Tama-Go and Friends.

I just found it really heartbreaking that they closed it after their 20th Anniversary.

 

[extraTHICCCpatchi444]

Dang that sucks

I've always wanted to go over there to the Tama Depa.

They should at least make another tamagotchi app with new generations like Music star, familitchi or tamago and maybe they can make money off of it thru phones.

 

[Vexia]

Sad day. It's hard to tell whether the "blame" for the apparent decline of Tamagotchis rests more with Bandai's handling of the brand or a general lack of consumer interest in a pet toy device. Either way, as Tama fans, probably the best thing we can do is to keep supporting the product, whether that's the new releases or the vintage aftermarket. With that in mind, does anyone happen to have the URL for Bandai Japan's website where you can make online purchases?

 

[N4LLLC]

Blame smartphones and their ilk, as well as technology in general. In the 90s, there wasn't all the junk we have now.

 

[MoonlitRabbit]

I guess this means, no chance of anymore english tamas... ;;;

 

[pinkbutterflies]

I was lucky enough to visit the Tama Depa in Japan this January a few weeks before it closed.

I kind of regret not getting a MIX while I was there, but they cost ~$50USD and having not run a tama in years I wasn't sure if it was worth it. They had no other physical tamas from what I could see. I bought some Kuchipatchi stickers, my friend and I split a donut pack (mine was Mametchi and he was DELICIOUS), and I got a Kuchipatchi keychain from the ¥1 Gashapon machine. I got some sweet pics with my old friend Memetchi outside the store. It's sad to know I can never return, but I'm lucky my friend knew where it was (and that it was closing soon!) so that we were able to visit.

EDIT: removed bad photobucket links because they now charge to host outside their site

 

[miho]

I was lucky enough to visit the Tama Depa in Japan this January a few weeks before it closed.

I kind of regret not getting a MIX while I was there, but they cost ~$50USD and having not run a tama in years I wasn't sure if it was worth it. They had no other physical tamas from what I could see. I bought some Kuchipatchi stickers, my friend and I split a donut pack (mine was Mametchi and he was DELICIOUS), and I got a Kuchipatchi keychain from the ¥1 Gashapon machine. I got some sweet pics with my old friend Memetchi outside the store. It's sad to know I can never return, but I'm lucky my friend knew where it was (and that it was closing soon!) so that we were able to visit.

EDIT: removed bad photobucket links because they now charge to host outside their site

Omg all of that Kuchipatchi stuff!

It's a shame the store is closing but honestly it doesn't surprise me unfortunately.

 

[cheesy-tchi]

Just wanted to let you all know that as of last week a shop in Harajuku called 'Mandarake' had a bin of new and lightly used vintages for decent prices. They have other locations in Japan, too, if any of you are going. A used store called BOOKOFF also had some used tamas in ok condition (I saw a Home Deka in one!!!).