Fanatics is opening its first-ever brick-and-mortar store inside a mixed-use district, and it's landing right in downtown Atlanta. The sports retail giant has teamed up with the Atlanta Hawks to build a year-round store at Centennial Yards, just steps from State Farm Arena, with Atlanta Hawks apparel on the shelves alongside gear from the city's other sports teams.
The announcement, detailed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, outlines a multiyear partnership between Fanatics and the Hawks spanning both e-commerce and physical retail operations. Per the report, the new store will sit outside the footprint of State Farm Arena itself, embedded instead in the surrounding Centennial Yards development. Fanatics' retail approach combines online and in-person shopping for fans.
Ed O'Brien, Fanatics' senior vice president of business development and strategy, is among the executives tied to the deal, according to the same report. The store will reportedly handle all aspects of retail operations for the Hawks and State Farm Arena, with an expansive selection of Hawks apparel on offer year-round. Operations are expected to begin at the start of the next retail season, the AJC reported.
A Flagship Spot in Atlanta's Biggest Redevelopment
Centennial Yards isn't just any backdrop. It's downtown Atlanta's largest redevelopment project, a 50-acre overhaul carrying a $5 billion investment that's transforming former parking lots into apartments, hotels, entertainment venues and more, per the AJC's reporting. The project's own site describes the ambition plainly, calling itself a 50-acre urban revitalization project in the heart of downtown Atlanta, with leading businesses, retail establishments, a world-class entertainment district and thousands of new apartments planned, all with direct MARTA access and convenient parking nearby.
The district is being developed by CIM and the City of Atlanta through what the developer describes, per CIM Group, as one of the largest public-private partnerships in the United States. The project has already shown signs of momentum: Hotel Phoenix at Centennial Yards opened to guests with 292 rooms in December 2025, and the district's entertainment zone hosted more than 100,000 World Cup fans during events in Atlanta in June 2026, according to the same case study. Eventually, the broader plan calls for a dozen city blocks with roughly 750,000 square feet of retail space, as reported by atlanta.urbanize.city.
Hawks Executive Touts a World-Class Retail Experience
Andrew Saltzman, president of business enterprise and chief commercial officer of the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena, said the partnership will give Hawks fans a world-class retail experience both digitally and in-store, according to the AJC. Saltzman also described Fanatics as one of the most powerful players in sports retail, the outlet reported.
That framing tracks with how Fanatics has positioned itself elsewhere. The company says it operates more than 60 physical store locations worldwide, including stadium, arena and flagship locations, and provides e-commerce and brick-and-mortar solutions for more than 60 professional and collegiate programs, according to its own description of its global in-venue business. Its retail features reportedly include buy-online-pickup-in-store options, click-and-pick kiosks and mobile in-seat delivery.
Fanatics' Broader Retail Strategy
A Sports Business Journal report on Fanatics' broader 2024 retail strategy found the company had 58 total venue partners, 45 of them in North America, and had invested in new buildouts, renovations or smaller improvements at 39 client venues that year as part of a push to turn e-commerce relationships into fuller omnichannel partnerships. That same report noted that at a typical Fanatics team store, about 80% of the product is traditional gear and merchandise, with the remaining 20% local and custom to the team — a mix that could shape what Hawks fans eventually find on the shelves at Centennial Yards.
