So do you people think you might go out to the store so you can hold your copy of the game, or will you download it off of eShop this time?

Also for those of you without a 3DS odds are they'll come out with a Special Edition Pokemon 3DS with one of the games already installed as a bundle.

Retail all the way. There is no way I'd download a Pokémon game off the eShop when I could own a physical copy instead. (Hey, I collect the games, and I own over half of every single Pokémon title released.)

I always get the retail copy (only exception is if digital copy is REALLY cheap). It holds more value and I can physically hold it and say "Yes I actually OWN this".

With the game being in 3D, a digital download could be gigabytes huge. Unless Nintendo implements a resume download option to the eShop in the future, a digital version would be a bad idea. I can imagine all the rage when downloads suddenly drop when it's close to finishing, forcing them to restart the download from the very beginning.

It just wouldn't feel right not having a retail copy of a Pokemon game, so I'll definitely be hiking to the store to grab it.

I agree with Yoshi and Cat there's nothing I love more then the stack of video games and DVDs I have.

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It is more likely for there to be problems with the eShop download. I will probably just do the retail to be safe.

This is on something that doesn't really give me 100% insurance if I lose my storage card I can get my games back. Or something along that line.
I prefer Retail for this case.

Getting it for retail just sounds like a smarter idea in general. No long download times, no required good internet service, and you get the HOT box. Who wouldn't want that sweet Pokémon game case (which I collect ) and that beautiful manual? I'd never pass up that opportunity. However, I might get Y from the eShop if they do choose to make it digital.
Plus there are added bragging rights when physical.

Both. Because profit maximization.

There's really no reason not to do it this way, either, since it's a first-party title, and it costs literally no money to produce digital copies of the game itself, contrary to assembling and shipping millions of cartridges across the globe. But they'll probably still sell the game as physical copies in-store for people who are more used to buying them that way/don't have the means to download the games from the eShop. Thus, more people get copies of the game altogether, and Nintendo and Game Freak profit more.

Nintendo has used this method in the past with their other first-party games, such as Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and Ocarina of Time 3D.

Retail 100% because my internet would not likely cope (when I actually buy a 3DS, this game has really given me a reason to buy one now).

I think I'll buy it on retail. I'm on exclusively mobile Internet, so... caps.