London Card Show hits new heights as Declan Rice, Luke Littler, and Sidemen join The Hobby
The London Card Show is back and bigger than ever before as it prepares for its first event at Excel London.
Once hosted in a sports hall, it’s now set to welcome thousands of trading card collectors from April 17-19.
Whether it’s sports cards or Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and One Piece, the world will be descending to buy, sell, and trade at the east London venue.
Traditionally hosted at Sandown Racecourse, the event is getting supersized, and it’s with a little help from familiar faces.
Celebrity collectors at the London Card Show
Card collecting might once have been considered a geekier hobby but now it’s firmly in the mainstream.
That’s been helped by a number of famous faces getting in on the scenes, from footballers, to influencers, and TV stars.
Roman Kemp and Angry Ginge have both started impressive collections, along with Sidemen stars like Miniminter, Zerkaa, and Behzinga.
Chelsea star Tosin Adarabioyo – founder of The Huddle platform – as well as England internationals Adam Wharton, Declan Rice, and Dominic Solanke are among a raft of players who collect.
Meanwhile, darts sensation Luke Littler is another athlete on the scene.
London Pride
The London Card show has come a long way since its inception in 2021, with just 40 attendees.
Now the event is set to host around 20,000 people across three days, with some tickets still available.
Meanwhile, vendors have risen dramatically with colossal brands like Fanatics, Panini, eBay, and Whatnot all having their own setups at Excel, with some sellers expecting to see transactions totalling six-figures across the weekend.
Founder Harry Reynolds told talkSPORT.com: “There’s so many reasons to be anxious, but so many reasons to be excited.
“What we’re looking forward to, maybe not during the show just because I’m running around like a headless chicken, is taking a moment to see what we’ve built.
“We’ve got a whole host of people coming from China, Japan, Macau. We’ve got a couple of New Zealanders coming, who I know quite well. A load of Americans, a load of influencers from America. Also just general attendees, business people from America and Europe.
“Again, just about everywhere. France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands. All people who have come before and said they can’t wait. We know it’s going to be a global kind of thing, people flying in from left, right and centre.”
While the growth has been exceptional, the show retains its family feel, welcoming collectors of all ages and budgets, from beginners to investors.
It’s a source of great pride for the founder, who counts family amongst his employees.
He added: “I’m very, very proud that I’ve made friends for life along the way and I’m still doing this to a good standard.
“The team which I’ve done it with is very small and it’s family. So maybe I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve done it with a pretty small team and that team is my family.”
The trading card boom
The growth of the industry has incredible with some people opting to invest in cards rather than a fluctuating stock market.
Reynolds, though, puts it down to a number of other factors.
“I’d say things like the Fanatics store being in central London is going to massively help,” he said.
“I think it kicked off before then. I think the Netflix documentary on [Ken] Goldin did massively help as well.
“But I do genuinely feel like it’s people just growing up and having adult money now and being able to do more of what they want with it.”
And the Fanatics Collectibles store in particular has been a gamechanger for those in The Hobby.
Reynolds added: “I think for the London Card Show, we’ve partnered up with them for trade nights. So from that exposure, the shop and us have benefited.
“It gives us that kind of non-show presence. But for them, it gives them further exposure to their exact target market of collectors, in people who come in, who buy stuff from the store.
“It’s just one evening a month, which is really nice. I think the store is very important for a global scale. It gives them a face, it gives them a front-facing structure, which I think is very important for growth.
“Every time you go there, it seems to be going from strength to strength. We work pretty closely with them for the trade nights. It’s really impressive what they’re doing.”
London Card Show top tips
A big event might seem daunting to a newcomer but Reynolds believes it’s key to remember everyone is there because they love collecting and enjoy talking about their collections.
He said: “Everyone’s there for the same reason and it’s not to make money, it’s because they love The Hobby. They love cards, so talk to people. 99 per cent of people will be more than happy to have a chat, and will be more than happy to help you out.
Reynolds also believes it’s best not to rush into the show, taking your time to look around, and making sure you go in knowing what you’re looking for.
He added: “There’s so much there, so don’t rush. I’d say definitely know what you want going into it.
“Don’t go there thinking, ‘I want Manchester United cards’, because then you will be looking at autographed cards of Bruno Fernandes and then base cards of Mateus Cunha and then you’ll see a retro card of Roy Keane and then you’ll see everything under the sun.
“Try and be specific about what you want and what you want to get.
“Similarly if you’re going with cards to sell, know what you want for them.
“Save yourself time, save vendors time by saying, ‘It’s worth this, I’m happy to take this’.
“Don’t expect to be getting 100 per cent of comps [comparison sales] because that’s unrealistic. The buyer needs to make some money out of it, to an extent, if you’re selling to someone who’s going to try to sell that on.”
Meanwhile, the show is also a great place to meet new people.
He continued: “Definitely don’t be afraid to go by yourself.
“I know people who have gone to shows by themselves and have walked out having gone to dinner with a load of other people that they’ve met there or have then joined a group chat and it’s now a tradition that they go to the shows together.
“So definitely don’t be put off if you’re going by yourself.”
The London Card Show will take place at Excel London on April 17-19 with further shows in August and October this year.
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