Retail Tour: Making Fans for Fanatics

Frank Wainwright went to the Fanatics Store to meet Anthony and crew and to see the influnece of agency Agile Retail in action.

Buckingham Palace – tick – Madame Tussauds – tick – Tower of London – tick – British Museum – tick – St Pauls – tick – Covent Garden – tick – Fanatics Collectibles Store – tick – Big Ben – tick…

Rewind a moment, Fanatics Collectibles Store? Who dropped that in there? Well, you might say Agile Retail did. That’s the retail experience team behind the worldwide global first store for the company that holds the official licence for sports collector cards and memorabilia across many notable sports brands, leagues and franchises.

The above tourist wishlist-journey is imaginary but this store – a physical bricks and mortar representation of an often online shopper journey – is a true destination choice for many visitors and shoppers to London. If card collecting is your thing – or if it might be – then this is the place to go and spend some time.

Time… Fanatics Collectibles is purpose designed and built to be at the forefront of modern retail experience. The ambition that has been realised here, shows exceptional belief in the product and the value of dwell time. Once you cross the store’s threshold the ambition of every zone, table and area in there is to keep you engaged and involved.

I was very willingly kept there by store manager Anthony, a store manager who is also one of the faces of the store and its brands. Fanatics has its heritage in baseball and basketball, but takeover  of collector brand Topps in 2022, for a reported £500M sees it front and centre of Premier League as well.  

Genial Anthony, who learnt his store trade in Harrods, is a completely committed collector himself. He absolutely loves his store, its team, its ambiance and his visitors. He has become a face of Fanatics alongside others in the store team as they are all natural and fluent in front of camera – presenting segments, events and ‘breaking’ – from the in store studio.

Here he is introducing one of the stores’ vibrant trading events on Instagram:

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The term ‘breaking’ was a new one on me. If you wondered too, then you are also not (or not yet) a collector of cards. It is the same as ‘unboxing’ only with the additional thrill of unboxing the unknown as you don’t know which cards you are going to get.

A major social side to card collecting is trading and swapping, so that you can complete sets.

Filming from this location completes an on and offline circle of communication that is delivered with passion and precision. The Instagram is the place to go to find out about store events and also the place to go if you want to tap into the vibe of the event you can’t attend. Store events feature food and drink as well as trades, games and competitions and the stars are present either in the shape of autographed memorabilia or sometimes IRL.

A recent Premier League event, launching the 2026 collection, saw Alan Shearer, Steven Gerrard, Theo Walcott and Rio Ferdinand mixing it up with influencers and fans and the Premier League trophy. Football Freestyler ‘Harrietfreestyle’ was a great choice to present the event online giving the event an informal, accessible and inclusive vibe.

Accessibility and inclusivity is the vibe I witnessed as I toured the store, and its various zones. The fans of Fanatics really do come first. Whilst there are museum ‘exhibits’ on display behind glass  (£10K for the pristine signed Pele card that Anthony told me is item many travel to see) there are also individual cards for sale to sift through and a wall of cards to check out for swaps. The store wants its shoppers to feel trusted to handle and examine the product.

There are education zones too and breaker tables. The breaker tables are a device to engage you in the store post purchase – so that you will open your new pack there and then and enjoy the moment amongst other fans or the friends you visited with. You can even charge your phone at a breaker table – ensuring that you can celebrate any great card in the pack online straight away.

This was one of the most carefully thought through immersive environments I have seen at retail. Fanatics knows the value of brand experience. In most other retail environments payment of purchase leads swiftly to departure but Fanatics has turned that on its head.

Finally, there was a gift for me, a non-collector. I had told Anthony that though I am not a card collector, I do collect memorable experiences and so he provided me with one, handing me over to colleague Charles who led me through a photo experience… As a consequence I am now the star of a 1 of 1 Topps Premier League Fanatics Collectible card. Its actually a lovely piece of memorabilia, delivered into my hands in a dry ice misted drawer for maximum impact. The card had wow appeal when I shared it online.

I received a true team welcome at the Fanatics Store and had them line up for me – (top pic, l-r Ismael, Charles, Anthony and Vince). This retail experience is people powered every step of the way, delivering a personal connection with store visitors. It is always good to see talented brand ambassadors in action and very pleasing to see this team enjoying their work in this retail environment.