Fanatics Collectibles announced plans to open its first flagship store in spring 2025 on Regent Street in London. The store will focus on sports and entertainment trading cards and trading-card games featuring Fanatics Collectibles’ brands (Topps, Merlin, Match Attax and Bowman).
In 2024, Topps secured the exclusive trading-card rights to the Premier League, with product launching in time for the 2025/26 season. Topps also owns the rights to UEFA national team and club competitions and will begin making licensed NBA products later this year.
The 8,647-square-foot store will house a central display of the rarest sports cards, with a suspended circular screen above. The flagship will carry exclusive products and unique items, including single cards, retail boxes and high-end hobby releases. It will also host community events, partner activations and drop-offs for grading.
The store will house a breaking studio (live and taped opening of card packs), interactive customer education and a personal card creation suite along with the retail space.
“We are incredibly excited to cut the ribbon on this amazing community-building retail space, one that we hope will delight collectors and be a true home for the hobby in Europe,” said Topps President of Trading Cards, David Leiner. “It will 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.”
The new store will also serve as a drop-off point for users of Fanatics Collect, a marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of trading cards.
Fanatics reported in a media release, “There are less than five Topps-partner hobby shops in the UK and less than 30 in Europe. The annual footfall on South Regent Street is over 70 million people.”
While the store will focus primarily on trading cards, other items will be sold, including apparel (Topps-branded and Fanatics-owned Mitchell & Ness), memorabilia (signed kits, jerseys, balls, and other sports-specific equipment) and trading-card supplies. Types of trading-card products in the store include sports (soccer, football, baseball, F1, basketball, UFC, WWE), sports gaming cards (Match Attax) and entertainment (Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Garbage Pail Kids, Stranger Things).
Fanatics Collectibles holds long-term, exclusive design rights to manufacture and distribute trading cards for sports and entertainment properties, including the MLB, MLBPA, the Premier League, MLS, UFC, Formula 1, Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars, among others. In January 2022, Fanatics Collectibles announced the acquisition of Topps licensed trading card brand.
Image courtesy Fanatics Collectibles
