London store embraces role as popular 'PokeStop'
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E-mail CNTV, July 26, 2016
Pokemons like Pikachu, Togepi, and Bulbasaur, are helping boost business for one restaurant in Central London. Businesses big and small are gradually getting on with the popular game—getting opportunities from Pokemon Go's huge and interactive world.
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London store embraces role as popular 'PokeStop' |
Pokemons are not just spontaneously popping up on streets of Central London, they are also popping up on menus, too.
Maxwell's Bar and Grill in the busy tourist district of Covent Garden is embracing its role as a "Pokestop" in the popular smartphone game Pokemon Go.
"So, on Saturday morning, when we opened the doors, there were about 20 customers outside, waiting to come in, to try and find these rare Pokemon that are apparently inside. So we opened up the doors, let everyone in, and found that over the space of the first weekend of trading as a Poke-Spot, we saw a huge surge in the number of people visiting us," said Anthony Knight, Sales & Marketing manager of Maxwell's Clubs, Bars & Restaurants.
Maxwell's says that surge led to a 26-percent increase in customers during its first weekend as a full-fledged Pokestop.
And as it has become a Pokemon Go mecca for gamers, Maxwell's is dropping various "lures" near the restaurant just like creating two Pokemon-themed milkshakes for players to feast on.
"The ‘Poke Freakshakes' are just more with the kids, really, but then again, even I'm playing the Pokemon game at the moment, going back to my childhood again, which is really cool. So you do get a lot of adults that are getting a bit of a stroll down memory lane, and they're going ‘Oh, I'll order the Pokemon freakshakes,'" said Lloyd Vaughey, manager of Ll's Clubs, Bars & Restaurants.
Pokemon Go has truly swept the gaming industry across the world. It connects the virtual to the real; the game uses the smartphone's GPS location services and camera.
Players have to physically move to interact with the game's virtual world, like tracking Pokestops and Pokemon gyms and looking for Pokemons like Pikachu and Squirtle, which appear on the phone's screen appear as if they are in the real world.
Pokemon Go is reported to be the biggest US mobile game ever.
"I think what it boils down to is the power of nostalgia. I remember collecting cards when I was younger, I was also a ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!' fan. And the fact that it's come back and it's so, it has this interface where you can connect with other players, connect also with ‘gyms' and ‘Poke-Stops.' It keeps me active and I'm just an A-level student going on to university and I'm experiencing my childhood all over again. It's sort of being reborn, sort of phoenix flies, come out of the ashes, and now I'm reliving it. Unbelievable," said Jonas Lammens, Pokemon Go player.
Maxwell's Bar & Grill is also planning to host a "Pokemon Go Lure Party" in the coming days.
Just like Maxwell's, businesses big and small are seeing the commercial potential in embracing the "Pokemon Go" craze.
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