Why Are Pokéballs At Target? Pokémon GO Is Taking Over Bollards At The Retailer

Giant Pokéballs may be coming to a Target near you.

The retail store announced last Thursday that more than 400 store locations across the country will repaint the giant red balls featured outside their doors in honor of the breakout success of Nintendo’s popular Pokémon GO smartphone game.

“Pokémon trainers and fans alike won’t want to miss this fun photo op,” the company wrote in a news release posted on their website last week.

The company also said that they have a long history with the Pokémon franchise.

“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,” they wrote. “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.”

The giant red balls getting a facelift, known as bollards, are pretty heavy. They weigh more than 1,200 pounds and are composed of solid concrete, the company said. While their practical use is to protect shoppers inside from runaway cars, the balls have been publicized before for other reasons.

Target posted about them being used for creative means in 2014, when it learned a husband and wife duo in Alabama had been dressing up the balls and taking selfies with them. They pretended in one photo, for instance, that the balls were the heavy weights at the ends of a barbell. In another, the couple pretended they were weight lifters trying to raise the giant balls with their hands. Their goal was to take a selfie every day for a year.

The couple ended up starting something of a trend and their followers on social media began sending in their own ideas for poses.