One packed ballpark jammed with more than 40,000 fans means a captive audience for the renovated and expanded Padres New Era Team Store at Petco Park, where the San Diego Padres Major League Baseball (MLB) team’s home-run record is a win for retail. Playoff and championship runs create product demand surges, with fans lining up to purchase limited edition gear and licensed collaborations that are available only at the park.
Josh Momberg, vice president of hospitality at Petco Park, says the team store has gone through various updates since the park opened in 2004 and has partnered with Delaware North on its hospitality and retail offerings. The store completed one of its biggest renovations just ahead of the 2025 season.
The Padres New Era Team Store prides itself in carrying unique items that appeal to a wide range of fans.
Photos: Matt Thomas, San Diego Padres and Delaware North
Now the store is 1,000 square feet larger with double the point-of-sale (POS) capacity. “It’s more shoppable, visible and efficient with a better flow,” says Momberg.
Aside from modern finishes and better lighting, reconfigured product departments include engaging activations with mannequins and floor fixtures. The reimagined layout leads guests through the store in a counterclockwise fashion, offering an enticing, frictionless path to view products — and to get in, out and back to the game.
“Working on a large capital project like the store renovation and seeing its success and people’s responses to the fan experience is really gratifying,” says Momberg, describing a palpable energy in the park that extends to the Padres New Era Team Store.
As the park’s main team shop, its bases are loaded with merch to win over a diverse fan base, from local season ticket holders who attend multiple games per week to tourists coming for a single game.
Momberg says, “We have tremendous attendance, and the team has been the top three in the league for the last several years. More people than ever are engaging with the park and our team store. They know this is ‘the place’ to get officially licensed products with the best selection and variety.”
Something for every fan
Housed in the preserved Western Metal Supply building, the Padres New Era Team Store is incorporated into Petco Park’s design. The retail space has a street entrance and ties directly into the stadium’s architecture, Momberg explains. Visitors and fans can shop there seven days a week, whether they attend a game or not.
There’s a constant demand for fresh gear, new products and specialty collabs that encourage fans to buy every time they attend.
“We have a regular cadence of new releases and limited-edition drops,” says Momberg, adding that staff also changes out fixtures and displays on a regular basis. “We want to make sure whatever we’re doing in this building complements the overall game presentation, so if we have a themed game or a large group event, we want supporting products that tie into those experiences. This way, we are organically part of visitors’ time at the ballpark.”
Another focus is reaching growing audiences, such as women and children.
“Across the sport, we are reaching more young professionals, Gen-Z, Gen Alpha, children, moms and women who are making buying decisions for the family related to how they’re spending time on the weekends,” Momberg points out.
Product categories cater to different fans. “We want everyone to feel included in the retail lineup,” says Momberg.
For example, this year the team store invited a cohort of the player’s wives and girlfriends to design jackets and women’s apparel in partnership with Pro Standard. “Think tank tops and satin jackets,” Momberg relates.
The store also introduced a youth/toddler collaboration with a non-MLB licensed partner, Binkybro. It has also aligned with surf, skate and outdoors brands such as Salty Crew, along with designing throwback gear with Mitchell & Ness — namely an authentic jersey and Legends snap jacket for hall-of-famer Tony Gwynn.
While the team store works with large MLB-licensed vendors like Fanatics, 47 Brand and New Era, Momberg likes to mix in fashionable boutique brands like Wild Collective for women’s products.
“We love to find vendors who are willing to work with us on custom offerings because diversity of products and licenses is a good thing,” he says. “We want a wide net of vendors to deliver the best retail experience.”
Game on — get in, get out
Offering a range of gear requires stocking plenty of inventory, which is possible thanks to the store’s lower-level warehouse. “It’s important to have good relationships with vendors who can work with us on forecasting the number of units and sizes we’ll need to represent, and we have it down to a science with nightly reporting and looking at attendance to predict how much product we’ll burn through,” says Momberg.
With specialty licensed products, some order edits are possible, but with others there’s “one shot to buy.”
Momberg adds, “The store traffic and turnover and sell-through are all really great things, but we’ve had to adjust our operations to keep up.”
Mannequins highlight some of the store’s licensed jerseys and gear for fans to take home.
A night crew refills fixtures before the store opens. Product orders arrive daily. “We work with vendors on a flow so we are not receiving everything at one time,” says Momberg. “We may place larger orders with some vendors and ask them to warehouse a portion of them.”
Again, those vendor relationships are key, he emphasizes.
While the staff has grown with the store operations, the retail team is still relatively lean considering the park’s attendance. There’s a store manager and four full-time team members, with up to a dozen seasonal staff members.
Momberg says the store is currently vetting some autonomous apps such as AI-based sensors to better understand flow and capacity. “We will continue to find ways to make the retail experience as seamless as possible,” he relates. “Speed is the name of the game here. We have a captive audience during a finite period of time, and we want to move them through the space before they get upset because of a line.”
The store flow and increased checkouts expedite service. “Also, because of the layout, people are more inclined to come shop and wait in a line because they know it will go quickly,” Momberg says.
The elevated team store is yet another milestone in the Padres’ winning streak.
Momberg says, “All the improvements we have made have built up a lot of credibility and goodwill with our fans.”
