RIO DE JANEIRO – The Olympic Games have not yet officially begun, but the business of the Olympics is already in full swing.
The 2016 Rio Megastore has been open for weeks on the boardwalk of Copacabana Beach, selling officially licensed gear to anyone who is captured by the Olympic spirit (and has a Visa card).
Billed as the largest official souvenir shop in Rio, the monstrous pop-up structure looms over the sandy beach of Copacabana, where tanned young men and women play soccer volleyball and tourists drink caipirinhas.
On Thursday afternoon, hundreds of visitors – with more waiting in line outside – walked atop the artificial grass floor of the megastore, which was packed top to bottom with every branded thing you could think of.