THERE’S NOTHING QUITE like baseball at nighttime: At the Rawlings Experience flagship, an immersive experience to all things baseball, that frenetic energy of a game under the lights was just what St. Louis-based architecture firm Oculus Inc. intended to channel.

Part of the Rawlings Sporting Goods (St. Louis) brand, which has a longstanding legacy as a sports equipment manufacturer, is the new 14,000-square-foot, two-level store, located at the massive mixed-use development Westport Plaza near downtown St. Louis, which evokes a nighttime game at the ballpark with dark walls and bright, stadium-style lighting, polished concrete floors and black metal grate accents. Hits of baseball-inspired colors such as white, red, brown and green add to the theme.

To create such an expansive store with an openness that captures a stadium feel, Oculus undertook extensive structural modifications, including merging two separate tenant levels and building a new storefront to improve the flagship’s visibility from the exterior. “A large opening was cut into the second floor, creating space between the two levels and adding the grand staircase access,” says Matt Bradley, Retail and Commercial Co-Director at Oculus.

While baseball and softball enthusiasts can stop in and buy a new bat or try on a glove (complete with customization options and technology to test their picks such as a virtual batting cage), the flagship is more than that. It also serves as a journey through Rawlings’ history, featuring memorabilia from professional players, some of the brand’s bases and helmets mounted as displays and a Gold Glove wall (named for the annual Rawlings’ Gold Glove Award that honors Major League Baseball players) to highlight past winners and their trophies.

“Throughout the space are relics on display – some for sale, others not – but all tell the 137-year history of Rawlings and its deep integration within baseball,” Bradley says.

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