A little more than three years after acquiring Topps, Fanatics is again expanding its footprint across the sports and trading card category, this time with plans to open the company’s first flagship hobby store in London later this spring.
Announced by Fanatics Collectibles on Wednesday morning, the store will be located on London’s historic Regent Street and feature more than 5,500-square feet of retail space. According to Topps, the store hopes to deliver the hobby to a region starved for easier access to sports and trading cards.
There are currently fewer than five Topps-partnered hobby shops across the United Kingdom and fewer than 30 in all of Europe. An estimated 70 million people visit the area around south Regent Street every year.
“There’s still tons of room in North America to grow, but over in Europe, this category, especially the mid- to high-end, is relatively unknown,” David Leiner, Fanatics Collectibles’ president of trading cards, told cllct. “It’s hard to find product. … So, the long and the short of it is, we thought we needed to accelerate the growth, accelerate the visibility of this hobby.”
Topps’ plan for the London store is to pack a variety of hobby categories into one retail location. Sports and other trading cards will be the primary focus, though Fanatics Authentic, the company’s sports memorabilia arm, will also be present.
Visitors will be able to purchase apparel from brands such as the Philadelphia-based Mitchell & Ness, which was acquired by Fanatics in 2022 and holds licenses with the four major North American professional sports leagues as well as MLS.
The London store will also host Hobby Rip Night — the third and most recent event saw Topps give away more than 100,000 total packs of cards while hosting more than 100 athlete and celebrity appearances at hobby shops across the world. For the first time in February, international shops participated, with stores in Canada, France, Japan, Greece, Spain, England, Hong Kong and the Netherlands included.
According to Leiner, the major goal for a store in London is to help grow the hobby’s footprint across Europe and the UK specifically. Events such as the London Card Show, which will host its 15th event in February, have shown the appetite for cards is there, and manufacturers simply have to make it easier to collect.
“Regent Street, prime real estate, 5,500-square feet of retail space. We didn’t dip our toe in,” Leiner said. “In Europe, I’m hoping some entrepreneurs see this and look at this as maybe a blueprint. ‘Hey, I could do this. I set up at the London Card Show. I’m one of the early guys or gals in this. I can do this.’ We see this as we’re going to back some entrepreneurs that want to get into this now. They feel better about opening a hobby store.”
Along with proof of concept from events such as the card show, London simply checked many of the boxes Fanatics was hoping for with an international store. A primarily English-speaking nation was ideal, while the United Kingdom has also been the hobby’s strongest region collectively across Europe.
Germany is the second-biggest market for sports and trading cards in Europe, so cities such as Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt were also considered. Topps has been an official partner of the Bundesliga since the 2008-2009 season, and there’s, of course, growing interest for the NFL. Berlin is currently scheduled to host its first regular-season NFL game in 2025 — it’ll be the country’s fifth overall — following games in Munich and Frankfurt dating back to 2022.
Locations in France and Japan were also considered, with Fanatics offices located in both Paris and Tokyo. All three countries remain strong candidates for any future international stores.
London made too much sense, however.
It’s one of the most visited metropolitan cities in the world but also possesses its own local flavor. London features one of four Fanatics offices across the United Kingdom but is also home to the headquarters for partners such as Formula 1 and the Premier League.
Topps and F1 first partnered on a sticker and trading card deal in 2020 and, after a successful run of products, renewed with a new multi-year contract in 2024. After years with competing manufacturer Panini America, the EPL signed a new deal with Topps last May to restart a partnership in June 2025 that once lasted from 1994 to 2019.
Opening a flagship store has been something collectors have long expected from Fanatics, though some will likely be surprised the first wasn’t in the United States. For Fanatics, the London store’s objective is less about generating revenue from a retail location and more about providing support to a region that deserves it.
“Honestly, we have a lot of new hobby store operators, existing hobby store operators, we have a really good group ..." Leiner said.
“We don’t want to step on toes, don’t want to blur lines. We have a great, vibrant group of entrepreneurs and hobby stores that do really well for us and collectors in North America.”
Leiner added collectors shouldn’t expect a line of Fanatics-branded hobby stores across the United States. For now, the company has instead been helping support local stores by providing tips, tricks and even three-point evaluations to help older shops join the ultra-modern era and new shops get off to strong starts.
“We think our hobby store partners in North America are doing a good job, and we’re going to continue to support them, build them up and show where they need to improve,” Leiner said. “We’re going to have the honest conversations, and we’re going to help them do that.
"At the end of the day, Fanatics wants to get closer to the collector, but we can do that via the hobby stores right here in North America, with good operators."
Though the London store’s grand opening is still potentially months away — an exact date has yet to be given — Fanatics has a clear set of goals for the shop. And it’s not really about the money.
“To me, it’s about the awareness. It’s about building the number of collectors and delighting fans. If we do those things, this is going to work,” Leiner said. “Whether the store makes money or loses money, who knows?
"But if more stores are popping up and we’re helping support them and those stores are building new collectors and great experiences to convert sports fans into the world of sports and trading cards, those are the wins we’re looking for.”
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.