

Every weekend, NA LCS Studio is filled with fans who are cheering for their favorite teams. Every skirmish, teamfight, and every turret being taken down is met with a loud cheer from the fans. It's not rare to hear the signature chant for each teams whenever the need arises.

In order to cater to those fans, Riot Games have opened a merchandise store within the venue. Not only this store has t-shirts for all the teams participating in the NA LCS, but they also have champion figures, t-shirts, posters, hoodies, caps... Whether you love an NA LCS team or just love League of Legends in general, you'll find something that you have to have.

What is the most popular product? Which team's jersey sells the most? We've met Zach Hampton, Merchandise Coordinator at Riot Games to talk about the merchadise store.



When did the merch store open for business?

I have been working for this company for about 4 years, but the store opened for business about 3 years ago.



Is the store operated by Riot Games directly?

Yes, it is all inside operations.



Who comes up with the idea for the products and the store itself?

It was a collaboration. We work with vendors to supply our store, but it was Riot's creativity and they put it all together.



What are some of the most popular items?

We have been implementing a lot of new products recently. I would say one of our top products for Riot would probably be Gnar Plush. Regular Poro Plush are very popular too. When Dino Gnar Plush came out, it also sold very well.



I'm seeing a lot of t-shirts with NA LCS team logos.

Yes, we started to implement those this year. We do a "Jersey Program" so that the teams can sell their jerseys in the store.



Do they sell very well?

Yes. they sell very well. The most popular team for jerseys is TSM, and C9 comes after.



Do pro players also purchase things from this store?

Sometimes they drop by to buy things like mousepad. But mostly it's their their managers who come in and purchase things.



How many customers do you get per day?

Typically, in a regular weekend, we have matches in both the Arena and the Battle Theater. Today is just the Arena, so we'd have about 300. If it is a regular weekend, we have 300 and the Battle Theater is another hundred, so about in average 400 per a day.



Who were the most impressive fans you remember?

Cosplayers. We normally don't see them during the regular seasons but the times like this quarter finals we get some people come in this store who do cosplay.



Any cosplayer that you remember in particular?

I actually met pretty good Forecast Janna. She was very impressive. The other cosplay that I remember was a Thresh cosplayer. But this season, I havn't seen a good cosplayer yet. The last year there were more good cosplayers, but I am hoping to see more.



Do you play League of Legends?

Yes, I play League of Legends. While I am a bronze player probably, I really enjoy playing League of Legends.



Who is your favorate champion?

I'm an Ekko main, but I play Lucian and Jinx as well for ADCs. It's probably a mix between these three.



Do you have anything else you want to share?

I like working in live event venues and I like being here in this store. I like being able to see bunch of different age groups and bunch of diffrent players come in. It is a good experence for me to see what they like and resonate with them what they like in this store.



