This time last week I was at the end of my Tour De Tat German road trip and even though Berlin’s not known for it football heritage, I still wanted to see what the capital city had to offer.
I visited seven flea markets over the weekend and, to be honest, there were quite slim pickings on the football front and when I did finally find something, it was very overpriced, but just when I was starting to doubt my decision to choose Berlin over some of the other famous northern German city’s I found the increidble Schmidts Football Fanshop.
I had stumbled across a small German write-up about the store from the Euros in 2020 which, luckily, had been flagged because of the recent tournament in Germany and even though there wasn’t a huge amount of imagery, the write-up sounded very exciting, so of course I had to go and check it out and boy I’m glad I did.
The near perfect football fan shop run by the super friendly Dietmar Schmidt has been there since 2012. There are bright and colorful flags out front, but inside it is rather dark and cozy. The shop is just 30 square meters and has the feel of one of those dusty charity / second-hand stores of the past which are all a bit unorganized, but everywhere you look is packed from floor to ceiling with football treasure. On offer are all the essentials that make up most people's football memorabilia hit list.
Flags, jerseys, cups, scarves, caps, car decals, patches, stickers, lighters, pennants, ashtrays, cushions, glasses, rich with color, huge lettering, club crests and dynamic logos on thousands of small and large items. The feeling when you enter the store is palpable. I had to take a second to contain myself as my eyes started registering more and more dead stock as I moved around the packed store.
There are 26 different large German clubs stocked. And as far as Schmidt knows, he is the only shop in the western part of the city that sells the large range of 1. FC Union and Hertha BSC at the same time, so if you're in the city, this is the place to head to get your hands on some real fan wear. The owner sources most of the goods directly from the clubs when they are having old stock clear outs and this means he can guarantee that the items are all genuine and original. This is something he really prides himself on.
I'm so happy that old school football fan stores like this still exist. We're sadly in a world where everything is being sanitized and that's sadly the same with a lot of retail spaces. But that makes locating a special shop like Schmidt's to buy dead stock football trinkets even more special and gives you a feeling that you can’t really replicate. As soon as you walk in, there's a buzz that makes you sweat, hot in the face and excited all at the same time. Just writing these words and re-living the couple of trips I took down there over the weekend has brought a big smile to my face. It was like being in 1994 in Toys R Us all over again.
A major part of the game of hunting and sourcing is not to tell people your spots, but that's not really the point of my Tour De Tat trips. It's to shed light on what's out there if you treasure hunt hard enough, so do yourself a favor if you are visiting the German capital and make some time in between partying to head down to meet Schmidt and see what football treasure you can take home for your own personal football shrine..Just leave some for the next person.
Schmidts Fanshop
Friedenau
Berlin, Germany
* For anyone who cant make it to Germany theres a few of the prime bits now avaliable on the store in the Tour De Tat Treasure section *
* For anyone who cant make it to Germany theres a few of the prime bits now avaliable on the store in the Tour De Tat Treasure section *