Pokémon card collectors line up for 12 hours at Richmond London Drugs

Pokémon trading card collectors began lining up Tuesday night at the Ironwood London Drugs in Richmond to buy cards released Wednesday morning for the Pokémon Trading Card Game’s 30th anniversary. The release included new cards and boxes.

Edwin Chang, manager of the Ironwood store, said more than 100 people joined the queue. The first arrived at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Chang said the lineup was probably the biggest the store had seen, adding that most recent lineups there have involved Pokémon products.

He said collectors’ interest is being driven in part by demand for particular cards that can be worth substantial amounts of money. Chang said the queue remained peaceful and customers were courteous to one another. Some customers were turned away after the cards sold out, though he noted there are other places to obtain them.