Major League Baseball is "testing the waters across the pond with a pop-up store in downtown London," baseball’s first standalone retail space in Europe, according to Matthew Rocco of FOX BUSINESS. The MLB Official Pop-Up Store, located in London’s Covent Garden district, officially opened to the public on Monday. The shop sells clothing and memorabilia from all 30 teams. It will keep its doors open until the end of '16. MLB Senior VP of Growth, Strategy & Int'l Chris Park said, "Our main goal is to serve the folks in London who are most focused in following our teams and baseball from end-to-end." The store’s lineup of brands includes New Era, Majestic Athletic, Wilson Sporting Goods, Louisville Slugger and Rawlings. Shoppers can "even test a virtual-reality headset equipped with MLB Advanced Media technology." Park believes the London retail venture will "advance MLB’s efforts to increase its footprint in the U.K. and the rest of Europe." He said, "London is an important part of [Commissioner Rob Manfred’s] vision of growing the game and growing the MLB brand" (FOX BUSINESS, 9/14).
