Business

Attendance at Oriole Park at Camden Yards increased 36% year over year to 1,936,798 attendees, according to the Baltimore Business Journal’s sister publication Sports Business Journal. With the second-best record in Major League Baseball this year, the Orioles ranked no. 21 among the 30 MLB clubs, up from their rank of no. 24 last season. Over the team’s 81 home games during the regular season, the Orioles averaged 23,911 fans per game, an increase from 17,543 in 2022.

The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use approval for Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Novavax’s updated COVID-19 booster shot, nearly three weeks after approving mRNA vaccine updates from Pfizer and Moderna. The Novavax vaccine still must get approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before being made publicly available. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines received CDC approval last month and have been publicly available for several weeks.

Harborplace will be getting a facelift in the near future, and the redevelopment might be leaving Baltimoreans curious about what it will look like — and if the developer, P. David Bramble, will take residents’ thoughts into account. A spokesperson for Harborplace’s steward, MCB Real Estate, said Sunday that the two pavilions in the Inner Harbor will be torn down.

McCormick & Co. saw higher sales and lower profits in the third quarter and on Tuesday reaffirmed its outlook for the year. Brendan M. Foley, a McCormick executive who became president of the Hunt Valley-based spice producer a year ago and took on the CEO role last month, attributed the strong sales to sustained demand, a focus on fast-growing categories and the popularity of McCormick brands and new products.

A historic farmhouse in Brooklandville has been repurposed and today is available on Airbnb for visitors who want to stay at the former homestead of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The house at 10938 Falls Road hit the rental market in August and has attracted several bookings since, said Michael Tsakalos, who acquired the property for $700,000 late last year with partner Brian Diamond.

Your mission this entire week is to work up an appetite to do some serious eating this weekend. The 31st annual Taste of Bethesda returns to Bethesda, Maryland, this Saturday, Oct. 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. “We haven’t been able to have Taste of Bethesda since 2019, so we are incredibly excited to be back bringing food, drinks and entertainment,” Stephanie Coppula, director of marketing and communications, told WTOP.

Greater Baltimore’s banks cut 24 branches over the last 15 months, a sign that the pace of branch cuts may be slowing after a slew of closures amid the pandemic. There are now 541 bank branches in Greater Baltimore as of Sept. 30, 2023, down 24 from the 565 branches Baltimore’s banks operated as of June 30, 2022, according to data from the Federal Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency.

Hej — yes, “hi” in Swedish — IKEA fans. Two more IKEA locations will open in Maryland, bringing more access to customers closer to the Eastern Shore and farther west across the state. By the end of the year, Annapolis and Gaithersburg will have the popular Swedish furniture store, which is known for its affordable and seemingly easy-to-assemble furniture, and of course, the cafeteria featuring Scandinavian fare.

Atlas Restaurant Group is expanding its Harbor East portfolio again, with plans to open a new restaurant and move its headquarters. The local group signed a 21,000-square-foot lease at 1425 Aliceanna St. in the historic E.J. Codd Co. building, Atlas announced Monday. The space at the corner of Aliceanna and Spring streets will hold a “moderately priced” restaurant along with the company’s new corporate headquarters. Atlas expects both to open later next year.