Earlier this month, Major League Baseball (MLB) opened its first-ever pop-up concept store at Westfield Stratford City, London, which will trade for the next 12 months.
The store, called Home Run House, is part of MLB’s strategy of expanding knowledge and following of the sport in the UK ahead of two games in June at the nearby London Stadium between the St Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs.
Developed in partnership with US-based hospitality concept firm Passyunk Avenue and independent experience company Imagination, the store offers customers a combined retail, food and beverage and leisure offering in a bid to drive footfall.
Home Run House has an officially licensed MLB merchanded shop and is the only one in Europe selling hats and apparel from all 30 of the league’s teams. Customers will also be able to personalise their purchases.
The bar area, which was designed in conjunction with Budweiser, offers authentic “ballpark” food fare such as hot dogs, nachos and hot pretzels and the operator hopes it will act as an “activity hub” where people can come and watch MLB games live on any of its five jumbo TV screens.
In terms of its leisure offering, Home Run House also has four custom-designed batting cages, connected to Hittrax radar technology – which tracks how far customers have hit a ball. The batting cage technology also allows customers to play in any of the MLB’s 30 league ballparks.
The MLB hopes the pop-up will build on the interest generated from its three-day London Yards event it held in June 2019 at Truman Brewery, as vice president of international strategy Charlie Hill explained: “Given the interest in baseball, especially as demonstrate especially as demonstrated by the huge turnout for the London Series and related events last year, we thought it was important to develop a more sustained market presence.
“We wanted to create a venue where our fans could both learn more about the game and have a fun day out in a way that replicates the experience of visiting the ballpark.”
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