Akihabara News (Tokyo) – Adores, an arcade in Akihabara, has announced that it will close permanently on June 30.
The arcade’s managers released a notice on its website citing “various circumstances” for provoking the impending cessation of business operations.
This ends the firm’s presence in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, since the Karaoke Adores outlet shut its doors last October due to pandemic-related reasons.
Established in 2017, Adores is located in a ten-story red building located prominently on Chuo-dori. The first two floors are filled with the crane or claw games that makes up the arcade.
Adores was one of the arcades reviewed by our then-correspondent Talicia Marie Stewart in January 2020, an the eve of the pandemic. Here is what she had to say about it…
As opposed to the behemoth that is Sega, Adores only has two stories of claw machines. The rest of the floors are full karaoke. The machines here are relatively unique; that is, more so than Sega games. Here, the prizes feel more achievable and you can see the progress you make. Personally, I liked the different prizes here. It was small, sure, but it had range. It was one of the only places I cared to give a go at winning a prize. It’s presentation really tricks you into thinking you can actually win something. The downfall to Adores was definitely its lack of variety. It didn’t have any machines that weren’t prize games. There may have been a few hidden ones at the back, out of view, but none that I could see. If your aim is to win a cute prize then this is the place for you, but if you want to play some Street Fighter, look somewhere else.
With the country going in and out of lockdowns, game arcades have been heavily impacted by the lack of tourists and customers. Adores in Akihabara appears to have become another victim of the Covid pandemic.
Last November, Sega Sammy Holdings announced that it decided to sell most of its subsidiary Sega Entertainment, which included its arcade business, to Genda Inc.
Although it will soon be gone from Akihabara, Adores still has a number of outlets in other regions of Japan.