 After the company 's great success in 1999 with Pokémon , Wizards of the Coast acquired and expanded " The Game Keeper , " a US chain of retail gaming stores , eventually changing its name to " Wizards of the Coast " , including the company 's flagship gaming center on the Ave in Seattle for several years , and its retail stores , which were mostly in shopping malls in the US . The gaming center was closed by March 2001 and eventually Wizards announced in December 2003 that it would close all of its stores in order to concentrate on game design . The stores were closed in the spring of 2004 . 
