Gundam Base Minneapolis Opens Oct 30: 2nd US Store, Hours

Bandai Namco's 2nd US Gundam Base, the Gundam Base Minneapolis, opens Friday, October 30, 2026 at Mall of America, a month after its September 30 date was pulled four days out. If you live within driving distance, it is worth a visit for the Gundam Base limited line; if a flight is involved, wait, because the three exclusives Bandai Namco named in September share their names with Japanese Gundam Base kits from 2017 to 2019.

Header photo: the Mall of America front entrance (2021). Tyler Vigen / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

What Happened: the Gundam Base Minneapolis opening date

Bandai Namco Amusement America (BNAA), which runs the US stores, set the opening for Wednesday, September 30 in a press release on September 17. On September 26 it posted a postponement with no new date. BNAA posted the new date on its news page on October 22, and GUNDAM Official ran the same text: the store "will officially open on Friday, October 30" at 102 East Broadway, Bloomington, Minnesota, next to a new Bandai Namco Cross Store.

Mall of America's event page lists opening day as 10am to 9pm. The September release gave regular hours of Monday to Saturday 10am to 9pm and Sunday 10am to 7pm, and the October notices do not repeat them.

Graphic: PlamoDesk. Sources: Bandai Namco Amusement America news and releases, GUNDAM Official, Bandai Hobby Site tour pages, Westfield Southcenter, checked Oct 30.

The October notice describes the stock in one line: "exclusive and limited-edition model kits, tools, accessories, and GUNDAM merchandise", plus displays. It names no kit and no gift. The September release had both. It named three grand opening exclusives and promised a clear Gundam Base fanny pack to anyone spending $100 or more, while supplies last. The mall's event page mentions only "a special opening free gift promotion while supplies last".

What the Gundam Base Minneapolis sells: the named exclusives

These are the three kits from the September release. The US release gives no item numbers, so we matched them by name to Bandai's Japanese item pages on Oct 30; each of those pages carries ガンダムベース限定 (Gundam Base limited) in its name.

Bandai's Japanese page for the matching MG describes the Master Grade Ver.3.0 RX-78-2 "in a refreshing blue Gundam Base Color" (our translation); the regular Ver.3.0 is the MG in our HG vs RG vs MG comparison. The matching clear RG is a color version of the December 2014 RG Wing Gundam Zero EW, one of the kits our Gundam Wing Gunpla guide prices.

For dollar prices, the closest guide is the tour. Bandai's pages for the Chicago opening pop-up and the Boston pop-up list three pre-sale kits in dollars:

We do not convert yen, so the two columns sit side by side. Bandai's Japanese page for the Astray says it first: after its April 2025 launch, the kit was also planned for "THE GUNDAM BASE stores, events and overseas" (our translation). That line is how a 2025 Japan item ended up on a US tour. The Japanese pages matching the three Minneapolis kits carry no such line.

The Gundam Base Hong Kong in 2026, for a sense of the format. Not the Minneapolis store. Photo: Fotointheworld / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Why It Matters for US builders

Before Chicago opened, the US had no permanent Gundam Base; the Chicago release calls that store the first. Pop-ups filled the gap.

Desk note: Our copy of Bandai's Japanese item list (Oct 11) has 209 items with the Gundam Base sales label, from 2017 to one dated March 2027, at a median ¥3,520 with tax. Six of them are Entry Grade kits, counted in our Entry Grade Gunpla list. Bandai Namco has published no stock list for either US store, so which of the 209 you will find on a shelf is not known.

Graphic: PlamoDesk. Source: Bandai Hobby Site (Japan) item list, our copy of Oct 11, 2026.

In our Unicorn Gundam Gunpla guide, every RX-0 kit dated after September 2020 is a Gundam Base, event or Premium Bandai item. Premium Bandai is the online route, with its own costs, in our Premium Bandai exclusive Gunpla guide. A Gundam Base kit on a shelf skips the shipping and the order window.

On October 29, the day before the opening, a builder at the mall for a work trip posted a video of the storefront with its panels down to r/Gunpla, and the thread ran to 48 comments. One reply set expectations for the shelf: "Each gundam base rotates various stock. Its better to think of them as a randomly refreshing stock" (u/Low_Debt8771). That is one builder's experience, not Bandai's policy.

Gundam Base USA locations: Chicago, Seattle and the pop-ups

THE GUNDAM BASE Chicago is at Fashion Outlets of Chicago, 5220 Fashion Outlets Way, Unit #1050, Rosemont, Illinois. Its December 2025 press release gives 3,000 square feet and hours of Monday to Saturday 10am to 8pm CT, Sunday 10am to 7pm CT. On those listings it closes an hour before Minneapolis from Monday to Saturday.

Seattle is the open question. The July 23 announcement put both new stores at "Opens Fall 2026". Westfield Southcenter's store page in Tukwila still says "Coming soon" and calls it the third North American location. BNAA's news list had no Seattle date on Oct 30. "Still waiting on any Seattle news or announcements," u/Tokawase wrote on r/Gunpla on October 22.

Westfield Southcenter, Tukwila, future home of The Gundam Base Seattle (2023 photo). Photo: Chew / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Between stores, Bandai runs pop-ups, among them Boston in August 2026. For every other route to a kit, from US shops to Japanese exporters, see where to buy Gunpla in the US.

What we don't know yet: whether the three Minneapolis exclusives are the same items as the Japanese kits they share names with (Bandai Namco has not said), whether they and the $100 fanny pack still apply on October 30, what any Minneapolis kit costs in dollars, whether the September hours still stand, and when Seattle opens. The October notices say none of it.

Our take

Go if Bloomington is a drive; skip a flight for the three named exclusives. By name, two of them match kits sold in Japan since 2017 and 2019, at ¥3,410 and ¥5,500 with tax, and the third a ¥550 Haro. The case for the store is the Gundam Base limited line itself, 209 items on Bandai's Japanese list, some of which you can now look at before paying; Bandai's tour pages put the RG RX-78-2 Ver.2.0 in Gundam Base Color at $50. If a "Gundam Base exclusive" turns up on a marketplace far below that, run our bootleg Gunpla checks first. A Minneapolis price list or a Seattle date on BNAA's news page would change this reading.

How we checked this

On Oct 30 we read the October 22 notices on GUNDAM Official and BNAA, BNAA's September 17 release and September 26 postponement, the Chicago release, Bandai's tour pages, and the Mall of America and Westfield Southcenter pages. Japan prices come from six Bandai Hobby Site item pages read that day; the 209 count comes from our copy of Bandai's Japanese list (Oct 11). Reddit was read through Arctic Shift. We have not visited either store.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do you park for the Gundam Base Minneapolis? Mall of America's directory names the East Ramp as the best parking for the store at 102 East Broadway, and links a mall map for it. When we read it on the evening of Oct 29 in Minnesota, the directory card still read Opening Soon, so check the map again on the day you go.

Why was the Gundam Base Minneapolis delayed? Bandai Namco has not said. The September 26 update on its US site moved both the Bandai Namco Cross Store and the Gundam Base off the September 30 date with no reason and no new date. The October 22 notice gives the new date without explaining the four weeks in between.

Is the Gundam Base Minneapolis bigger than Chicago? Bandai Namco has published no size for Minneapolis, against 3,000 square feet for Chicago in its December 2025 release. Builders who saw it on Oct 29 disagreed. "Dang, that is WAY bigger than the one out here in Chicagoland," wrote u/ICEMAN_101; "I don't think it's bigger than Chicago but it's definitely laid out better," wrote u/Typical_Response_218.

Is there a Gundam Base in California? Not a permanent one. Bandai Namco's announcements name three US stores: Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle, which Westfield calls the third North American location. Bandai's pop-up tour page lists five US stops (New Jersey, Texas, Chicago, Orlando, Boston), none in California. "How....how has there never been a gundam base in Los Angeles besides a comic convention," asked u/joe2187 on r/Gunpla on October 22.

Does the Gundam Base Chicago hold building workshops? Yes. Its October 2026 event calendar, posted September 28, lists a Gundam Model Kit Workshop and Gundam Card Game demo sessions, both with sign-up in store on the day of the event. Card game tournaments take sign-ups in advance on the TCG+ app.

Related Reading

• Gunpla Grades Explained: what MG, RG and HG mean before you pick from a store shelf.
• Gunpla Tools for Beginners: the four tools to buy, in order, if the store visit is your first kit.
• Best Beginner Gunpla Kits by Budget: regular kits under $20, $40 and $70 to compare with store prices.

References

• GUNDAM Official: THE GUNDAM BASE Minneapolis opening on Friday, October 30
• Bandai Namco Amusement America: Minneapolis opening notice (Oct 22, 2026), opening date update (Sep 26, 2026), Chicago October event calendar (Sep 28, 2026), THE GUNDAM BASE page, Chicago press release (Dec 2, 2025)
• Bandai Namco Toys & Collectibles America: Cross Store and Gundam Base at Mall of America, release of Sep 17, 2026, The Gundam Base comes to Minneapolis and Seattle (Jul 23, 2026)
• Bandai Hobby Site (English): THE GUNDAM BASE CHICAGO news, world tour page, Chicago pop-up, Boston pop-up
• Bandai Hobby Site (Japan) item pages: 01_2649, 01_1910, 01_1998, 01_5994, 01_5993, 01_5992
• GUNDAM Official: THE GUNDAM BASE POP-UP WORLD TOUR BOSTON
• Mall of America: grand opening event, store directory
• Westfield Southcenter: THE GUNDAM BASE Seattle
• Respect My Region: Gundam Base Minneapolis officially opens October 30 (Oct 29, 2026)
• r/Gunpla threads, read through Arctic Shift: "Grand Opening Eve video" (Oct 29), "New date for Minneapolis Gundam Base" (Oct 22)
• Photos: Mall of America Exterior (Tyler Vigen), The Gundam Base Hong Kong (Fotointheworld), Exterior of Westfield Southcenter (Chew), all Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0