Village Vanguard is preparing to release exclusive Kirby merchandise at its book stores in Japan as part of two fairs held at the same stores.
The bookstore chain Village Vanguard is hosting two Kirby fairs during June to honor the iconic Nintendo franchise. Alongside the fair will be the release of Kirby merchandise exclusive to the stores located in Japan.
According to Nintendo Soup, the first fair will take place on June 12th and include a number of unique items. Various T-shirts, pouches, waist bags, key chains, stickers, and pins. Then on June 26th another fair is being hosted that will have different items like belts, socks, sandals, iPhone cases, and other items.
Village Vanguard in Japan is known for hosting a variety of fairs and sponsoring Nintendo merchandise. In 2017 according to Nintendo Soup the chain stores hosted a Legend Of Zelda fair with a number of exclusive merchandise items.
More recently Village Vanguard has sponsored some unique Pokémon merchandise in support of the Pokéfuta initiative. Japan Today reported that the Pokéfuta Project saw a number of Pokémon decorated manhole covers installed in various towns across Japan to help spark tourism in the areas. Village Vanguard released coffee mugs featuring the same designs along with rubber manhole miniatures to acts as coasters. Fans could also buy miniature metal replicas of the manhole covers to be displayed in wooden boxes.
The Kirby franchise has seen a bump in popularity thanks to the release of retro titles for the Nintendo Switch. Kirby’s Adventure, Kirby’s Dream Land 3, and Kirby Star Allies have all made their way to the mobile device and Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn saw a 2019 release for the Nintendo 3DS with a Switch release being likely. There have also been reports of a variety of Kirby games being released in the future.
The merchandise being released by Village Vanguard is not directly tied to any of those or upcoming titles in any way. Rather, they seem to be a general celebration of the franchise as a whole. Items like T-shirts, socks, and iPhone cases are bound to be popular among fans of the little guy.
As was the case with previous fairs these items will only be available in the stores in Japan and no such fairs will be held at Village Vanguard’s in North America. However, for those wanting the merchandise but unwilling to make the trip there is always the option to pre-order the items, have them delivered to a mail forwarder in Japan, and then have them shipped to North America.
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