Fanatics and Major League Baseball open landmark MLB Ballpark Store in Tokyo ahead of 2025 Tokyo Series

Major League Baseball and Fanatics have opened the largest ever MLB Ballpark Store in Tokyo ahead of the 2025 MLB Tokyo Series, located at Prism Hall in Tokyo Dome. 

This made its debut at 5:30am today, will have 700 staff members serving fans, and will be one of several MLB retail locations in the city, including official stores at Miyashita Park and the Tokyo Skytree.

Fanatics and the MLB expect around 100,000 fans to visit the stores before the Chicago Cubs and LA Dodgers face each other in the final game of the series on Wednesday.  

Spanning 31,000 square feet, the new store has 140 tills. With more than 300 products available for sale, it will offer a variety of popular MLB items and many specifically designed with the Japanese fan in mind.

“We’re excited to bring a next level retail experience to MLB fans in Tokyo and to continue growing our presence in Japan,” says Masanori Kawana, Managing Director at Fanatics East Asia. “Japanese baseball fans are incredibly passionate about the game and supporting their favourite teams and players. We are looking forward to welcoming them to all three of our stores across the city in the coming days.”

2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Physical stores will be a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards. which will open for entries in March, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering. 

For further information on the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, please fill in the below form and we will get back to you asap.