Bandai will start the process of closing all physical and online Gundam Cafe facilities. The final cafe will close by the end of March 2022. The company will start the closures with Osaka’s Gundam Square on January 10, 2022. The Tokyo Brand Core Cafe at Akihabara will follow, with the Odaiba and Fukuoka outlets closing on January 30, 2022.
After January 2022, only Gundam Cafe Yokohama Satellite will remain active. However, the Yokohama Satellite cafe is part of Gundam Factory Yokohama, a limited-time attraction that will close on March 31, 2022. Bandai also plans to shut down the cafe’s online web store on the same day.
Bandai opened the first cafe in Akihabara, Tokyo, in April 2010. The cafe became known for providing food and drinks inspired by the mecha anime franchise. It eventually opened more outlets in Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka.
The company did not specify a reason for closing all Gundam Cafe locations in the announcement post. However, prior important announcements mentioned how the coronavirus pandemic caused the cafes to adopt shorter operational hours.
In the same post, Bandai also asked people to look forward to its new project. The company promised to provide a new place of communication for Gundam fans that suits the time period while using experience from running Gundam Cafe.
