Pokémon card pack sales in Barentin, France, Digi Mart USA News (Barentin, near Rouen, France): Crowds of fans and collectors camped outside a commercial-zone store in Barentin, near Rouen, on Friday, November 6, 2026, when a highly sought-after Pokémon card pack went on sale in France.
Mathilde, a 30-year-old resident of Malaunay who has autism and a disability, said her priority card did not help her get a pack. She said she could not wait outside the store from 10 p.m.
and called the outcome “an injustice.”
“I don’t really mind, I’m not a big collector,” she said. “I’m 30, it’s a pack for the 30th anniversary, and I wanted to buy something for the occasion because I grew up with Pokémon.”
She said waiting overnight was particularly anxiety-inducing and that other people with disabilities she saw that Friday morning faced the same problem.
The store’s director said about 300 people were in front of the shop that morning. He had called the gendarmerie to supervise the event in case of tension.
According to the director, tickets were handed out the previous morning and early that morning, and packs were then distributed in order of arrival, including to some people with reduced mobility who arrived early. Mathilde said about sixty priority-card holders were unable to obtain a pack.
The store had only 30 units of the most anticipated set in stock. The director said “there is no system that can satisfy everyone” under such conditions and rejected any discrimination against people with disabilities, saying that for less in-demand releases or when stock is higher, part of the supply is reserved for priority customers.
Mathilde said she was not ruling out filing a complaint. The director said the store will move future physical releases online, using a lottery system, starting in 2027.
