Hobbiesville is one of North America’s fastest-growing collectibles retailers and a leading destination for Pokémon card collectors. They’ve built their community by making collecting accessible and exciting for longtime collectors and newer fans alike.
To celebrate Pokémon’s 30th anniversary, Hobbiesville wanted to recognize the collectors who had supported them throughout their rapid growth. While fans across North America lined up overnight for the chance to buy the latest release, Hobbiesville took a different approach. At its Toronto store, it launched the True Collectors vending machine, powered by Shopify.
Collectors used Sign in with Shop to connect their Hobbiesville account and unlock a personalized booster pack reward. Their purchase history with Hobbiesville informed their chances of receiving a higher-value pack, turning customer loyalty into a tangible moment of recognition and reward.
True collectors are the reason Hobbiesville exists. Pokémon's 30th anniversary was a huge day for collectors all over the world, and it felt like the right moment to give something back to the people who got us here.
The challenge: Rewarding the True Collectors
Hyped up product drops often favour whoever shows up first. That can make longtime customers (often a brand’s most genuine supporters) the hardest to recognize.
Hobbiesville wanted to do something different. Instead of simply rewarding someone’s place in line, they wanted to recognize the relationship each collector had built with the brand over time, while still welcoming newer fans into the community.
That meant securely connecting each participant to their customer account, translating their purchase history into a reward mechanic that felt authentic to collecting, and bringing that context into an innovative physical retail experience.
The experience: Sign in and unlock a personalized reward
The True Collectors vending machine rewarded each participant with a booster pack, ranging in value from under $10 to over $100.
For existing customers, their Hobbiesville purchase history shaped their chances of unlocking a higher-value pack. The deeper their relationship with the brand, the greater their chances. Over 200 new collectors created a Hobbiesville account and joined the community with a free pack.
Here’s how it worked:
Sign in: Collectors used Sign in with Shop to connect their existing Hobbiesville customer account or create a new one
Scan: Each collector received an account-linked QR code and scanned it at the True Collectors vending machine
Collect: Their Hobbiesville purchase history determined their personalized pack reward before being dispensed by the True Collectors vending machine
Reveal: Collectors opened their pack in a dedicated Hobbiesville x Shopify area to reveal their cards and capture their reactions
The result was a seamless journey from customer identity to physical reward — without requiring staff to manually look up accounts or issue unique discount codes on the spot.
It's a beautiful thing to see so many new fans discovering trading cards and collectibles for the first time. The hobby keeps growing, and we want every new collector to feel as welcome as the ones who have been with us from the start.
How Shopify made it possible
- Sign in with Shop: Connected each collector to their Hobbiesville customer account, turning their identity into the key that unlocked the reward experience
- Customer accounts and metafields: Enabled Hobbiesville to use purchase history to place collectors into loyalty tiers that informed their chances of receiving a higher-value pack
- Hydrogen: Powered the fully customized experience at the True Collectors vending machine and connected it to Hobbiesville’s Shopify store
- One connected platform: Shopify managed the full flow: customer identity, customer segments, product inventory, and fulfillment
The takeaway: Customer loyalty, brought to life
The True Collectors vending machine made Hobbiesville’s most loyal customers feel genuinely recognized, while welcoming 200+ new collectors into their community. Each customer’s unique history with the brand became tangible, shaping an immediate real reward and creating a moment they could celebrate with the collector community.