FORBES: Fanatics Trading Card Store To Debut In London In Global Growth Push

If you thought that collecting sports cards was kids’ stuff, then Fanatics Collectibles is to open its first-ever store in the spring of 2025 in a bid to set you straight.

To be located on Regent Street in London’s West End, the focus will be on sports and entertainment trading cards and trading-card games, featuring Fanatics Collectibles’ brands, including Topps, Merlin, Match Attax and Bowman, plus soccer’s Premier League, launching in time for the 2025/26 season.

The 8,647-sq.-ft. store will include a central display of rare and desirable cards, with a giant suspended circular screen above, plus exclusive product and have thousands of unique items, including single cards, retail boxes and high-end hobby releases.

Along with retail space, the store will feature a ‘breaking studio’ – of which more in a moment -and a personal card creation suite. But the core role of the store will be to jump start the trading phenomenon in the U.K. and Europe in the same way it has taken hold in the U.S…