Bandai Namco Opens Mexico Shop
Hundreds of people queued on Friday to enter the first Bandai Namco shop in Latin America, opened in Mexico City with products from some of the Japanese company’s best-known franchises, including Gashapon, Tamagotchi, Dragon Ball, Gundam, One Piece and Tamashii Nations.
The images show long queues of young people and adults waiting their turn to look around the shop, in a country where the anime market generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Santiago, one of the shoppers, welcomed Mexico having a dedicated space for the brand. “It’s really good, because this is the first Bandai shop we have in Latin America. It’s very well stocked, it has lots and lots of products and, for us collectors, getting the special Tamagotchis, getting things like that is hard, and having our special gashapon, in this case from Caballeros del Zodiaco, which is the one I’m going to buy, is brilliant,” he said.
Anime Fans Celebrate Launch
Customers also hope that the arrival of the shop will help reduce the costs of collectible figures, a recurring problem among enthusiasts who until now relied on specialist shops or online purchases.
Felipe Gomez, another attendee, agreed that the opening represents a significant step for followers of Japanese pop culture. “I feel this is going to be very important; it’s a big step forward for anime fans or for a franchise we want to see arrive,” he said.
Gomez explained that the shop could become the place to find pieces that have so far been scarce in the Mexican market. “More than anything, in some shops you don’t find all the models we want to look for, some character we like, but we don’t find it in all the shops, so in this shop we hope to find the characters we don’t find in general shops or online shops,” he noted.
Growing Anime Market
Bandai Namco had already tested the response of the Mexican public in 2025 with the Gundam Base Pop-Up Store, a temporary shop that preceded this first permanent branch in Latin America.
The anime market in Mexico generated 546.1 million dollars in 2025 and is projected to reach 1,655.8 million dollars by 2033, according to estimates by consultancy Grand View Research.
Article by Viory
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