Giant Poké Balls are Popping up in Front of Target Stores

Say cheese, Charizard! This week, giant Poké Balls are appearing outside select Target stores. OK, they’re not actual Poké Balls—we’ve painted our bollards (those big red balls outside our store entrances) at more than 400 Target locations across the country, to look the part. Pokémon trainers and fans alike won’t want to miss this fun photo op.

Pokémon mania is nothing new to Target; guests have made us their go-to spot for top products and exclusives for more than 15 years. But this summer, as the launch of Pokémon Go took the world by storm, fans flocked to Target for everything from Pokémon toys and games to (you guessed it) portable batteries and chargers to keep their phones going strong, even on the longest hunts. We had all the gear they wanted—but as we saw fans on Target runs filling in their Pokédexes (Oh hi, Machop!), exploring nearby PokéStops and visiting Gyms along the way, we wanted to do even more to celebrate the fun.

“We wanted to create an extra special experience for our biggest Pokémon fans, and landed on this idea that we think they’ll love,” says Rick Gomez, senior vice president, marketing, Target. “Our creative team—many of whom are Pokémon fans themselves—designed the Poké Balls, and we worked quickly to get them up across the country. We hope our guests have as much fun with them as we do.”

Of course, you won’t want to try and add one of these larger-than-life Poké Balls to your backpack of items—each one is a whopping 1,200+ pounds of solid concrete!

More good news for those looking to gear up before their next Gym battle: Walk through the doors at any Target store this month and find a special display of Pokémon products front-and-center, including backpacks, trading cards, plushes, video games, and new apparel in men’s, women’s and kids’ sizes. As always, you can also shop our full range of hundreds of Pokémon products at Target.com.

Have you played Pokémon Go on a Target shopping trip lately? Show us your favorite photos or screen grabs on social media using the hashtag #TargetRun.