Fanatics to make brick-and-mortar debut with flagship store in London
Sports and entertainment fans in London will soon be able to buy their trading cards in a physical store.
Fanatics Collectibles, a division of digital sports platform and licensed sports merchandise giant Fanatics, will open its first-ever store in the spring, on Regent Street in London. The 8,647-sq.-ft. flagship will be focused on sports and entertainment trading cards and trading-card games, featuring Collectibles’ brands such as Topps, Merlin, Match Attax and Bowman.
The store is designed to give collectors a one-of-a-kind experience. A central display of the rarest and most-desirable cards, with a giant suspended circular screen above, will serve as the visual centerpiece of the space. (The new outpost was designed by SDI Design, reported Sports Business Journal.)
The flagship will offer exclusive product and have thousands of unique items, inclusive of single cards, retail boxes and high-end hobby releases. It will also host “community-building” events, including monthly trade nights, athlete signings and appearances, partner activations and grading drop-off.
Along with the retail space, Fanatics Collectibles will feature a state-of-the-art “breaking” studio (for live and taped opening of card packs), interactive customer education touchpoints and a personal card creation suite.
While the store will focus primarily on trading cards, it will also sell other items, including apparel (both Topps-branded and Fanatics-owned Mitchell & Ness), memorabilia (signed kits, jerseys, balls and other equipment) and trading-card supplies.
In a statement, David Leiner, president of Topps Trading Cards, which Fanatics acquired in 2022, said he hoped that store would “delight collectors and be a true home for the hobby in Europe.
“It’ll be a destination for millions of fans as well as our own internal partners — and team and club partners, the latter using our dedicated space to launch and showcase new products in a way that has never been done before,” he added.
For internal partners, the new store will serve as a drop-off point for users of Fanatics Collect, a marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of trading cards.
Fanatics Collectibles has long-term, exclusive rights to design, manufacture and distribute trading cards for several sports and entertainment properties, including MLB, MLBPA, the Premier League, MLS, UFC, Formula 1 as well as Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, among others.
