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Nintendo's 1985 NES Test-Market Warehouse in Hackensack, New Jersey, Is Still Standing, and Three NES Historians Found It
NES historians Pat Contri, Daniel Greenberg and James of legendofNES.com identified the Hackensack, New Jersey, warehouse Nintendo used to launch the NES in its 1985 New York test market, and say it looks nearly the same today.
Contri, the author behind the NES Punk videos, revealed the find at the Retro Gaming Expo before posting it. “The NES turns 41 today (launched Oct. 18, 1985),” he wrote, then named the building as “the Hackensack, NJ, warehouse Nintendo used for its test-market launch.”
The address stays private. “We decided not to share the exact address because it’s private property, and we want to respect that,” Contri replied when people asked. The group has gone further than a photo: “We’ve reached out to city officials and the local historical society about getting the site officially recognized. We believe it’s an important landmark in video game history.” Time Extension picked up the story with Contri’s own account of the search.
What happened inside is well documented. A 2015 Mental Floss history of the launch describes the building this way: “The company leased a base of operations in Hackensack, New Jersey, a musty warehouse where inventory would be stored, seven-foot tall retail displays built, and sales calls made.” Dozens of Nintendo of America staff moved east from Seattle that fall. Howard Phillips ran the warehouse. “The Hackensack team delivered their own inventory to stores,” Mental Floss writes, and theft was constant. Nintendo’s Gail Tilden told the magazine, “Everything was getting stolen out of the back.”
It worked. By the close of Christmas 1985, Mental Floss writes, the sales force had moved “between 50,000 and 90,000 consoles,” and Bruce Lowry, then Nintendo’s vice president of sales, “says they exceeded their goal of 50,000 units.”
Contri followed up three days later with a video walking through the find:
Play the video on YouTubeHe also said more may come: “I may do a video with more details about the site and/or an article in my new expanded NES book due out next year.”
Hackensack now has a decision in front of it, and there’s no word yet from city officials or the historical society on whether a plaque or listing is possible. The building’s owner hasn’t been named or quoted anywhere. Contri’s expanded NES book, due next year, is where the full account is likely to land.