he effects of hurricanes and high oil prices are
felt nationwide but they didn’t keep the family
out of the zoos and aquariums in 2005.
Likewise, the tendency to take home a memory largely
kept pace with attendance. To continue the trend in
2006, retailers are upgrading spaces and reaching out
to visitors beyond the gift shop confines. The animals,
too, are getting into the act, of merchandising, that is.
A phenomenal seller at the Virginia Aquarium and
Marine Science Center Gift Shop in Virginia Beach,
Va., has been the artwork of the harbor seals. Ruth
Ann Steenburgh, director of retail operations, has
been selling their compositions, the result of a seal
enrichment program. “The seals came up with some
really cool pictures and were very prolific when offered
a paintbrush dipped in paint,” said Steenburgh. The
store also features a T-shirt design patterned after one
of the original seal paintings. This year, the design will
also grace mugs and magnets. Profits from the store go
to the operating budget of the aquarium, half to the
stranding program and half to enrichment.
The aquarium and science center buildings each
has a gift shop with distinct sets of merchandise. The
North Ocean Pavilion Store will be moved and
designed so that aquarium visitors exit through it. The
store will open in 2007 and renovation will not be
complete until the next year. The South Marsh
Pavilion Store, which hasn’t been spruced up since
being built in 1996, will be renovated with painting
and upgraded, with reconfigured track lighting to
highlight selected areas.
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The gift shop at The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga,
Tenn. The store has a newly developed river otter line.
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Attendance figures have remained at 600,000, but
are gleaned from several factors some of which don’t
produce revenue, such as whale watching. The stores
sales were around $1,200,000, up for the calendar year
2005.
A plush animal named Sandy for the aquarium’s
mascot sea turtle will be the big branding push for
2006.
The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
opened the doors to a new building last year, revealing
an entirely new series of exhibit galleries. The gift shop
at the end of the experience does not require guests to
exit through it. So to capture their attention, Judy
Powell, director of retail sales, is rearranging the entryway
to increase visibility of a newly developed plush
river otter line designed to engage customers interactively
rather than just be seen from a shelf. The line is
an offshoot of three aquarium river otters that were
named Everett, Pete and Delmar by a contest winner
for the three characters from the
movie, “Oh Brother, Where Art
Thou.” Bountiful add-on possibilities
accompany the line. The
little “junior aquarist” can be
characterized in an assortment
of clothing, sandals, and sunglasses,
with hiking supplies,
backpack, fishing pole, or accessory
of choice. A machine-made
tag will be available to name and
attach to the adorned otter on a
collar, necklace or bracelet. The
otter also ties into the behind
the scenes junior aquarist children’s
tour at the aquarium. “It
creates a mascot effect,” said
Powell. “Kids can relate to having
seen the otters in the aquarium
and with the outfits, can
playact that this is the kind of
thing they could do.” She considers
the otter station an experiment
to be revised again, if
needed. “There is so much
more challenge for retailers
today because people have so little
time. We have to make sure
we have something to capture
their attention because if it’s
same ol’ same ol’ they will walk
by.”
Aquarium attendance increased
in 2005 to 1,059,000
from 855, 979 the previous year.
Powell noted that per cap spending
remained flat because members who visit repeatedly
don’t make a purchase each
time.
A Great White Shark in
the tank contributed to a
substantial spike in attendance
at California’s
Monterey Bay Aquarium in
2004. The six month captivity
prompted gift shop
General Manager of merchandise
Andrew Fischer
to augment shark-related
merchandise. This year new merchandising programs
tie into the currently expanded children’s exhibits,
Flipper, Flukes and Fun
and the Splash Zone.
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One of the four stores at California’s Monterey Bay
Aquarium. New merchandising programs tie in with expanded
children’s exhibits at the facility.
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The main store was
remodeled in 2005 as well
as were three other locations.
Fixtures were revised
and replaced with those
that can be moved around
and changed. When completed
this year, suspension
cable lighting will span half
of the store from one end
to the other. Fischer
explained that the main
store cash register locations were removed and centralized
in one spot to ease customer service access, open
up selling square footage and increase
traffic flow pattern fluidity on busy days.
He is looking forward in spring, to moving
the kid’s area into the main store,
which is typically adult, gift and wearing
apparel merchandise. He also will be
preparing for the new Otters From
Around the World exhibit scheduled to
open in 2007. He expects it will create
excitement because otters are the most
popular animals at the aquarium, being
visible out in the bay.
Though 2005 attendance was down
30 percent relative to the Great White
Shark release, per cap spending maintained
the $4 range of previous years.
Developing and building the customer
service program, and educating staff on
product knowledge are priorities for
Fischer. “We continue to be a key part of
the aquarium visit because as people
leave they want to take a terrific memory
with them and we want to give them that
opportunity but we have to be there to
keep them knowledgeable. The remodel
will ultimately be a tremendous help in
having more variety, merchandising
things together better, telling more stories
and giving more selling square
footage.”
Remote site kiosks will
increasingly bring the gift
shop to the Tacoma, Wash.-
based Point Defiance Zoo
and Aquarium onlookers
of various exhibits. Gift
shop manager Katherine
Edmundson said the store
is new as of 2004 and is in
a great location, but wants
to reach out to visitors on
site around the zoo.
To support and market
around what the new Kids Zone area teaches children
about professions that work with animals, the store
will provide educational information through toys and
outfits such as veterinarian lab coats. Merchandise in
the store will reflect the new walrus and seahorse
exhibits, as well as one that celebrates Audubon’s
100th anniversary.
Edmundson will be looking for new innovative
product in 2006, zoo and conservation-related but fun
and exciting for kids, and more free trade items.
“We’re working to increase the consciousness of the
consumer, to drive some interest into how the zoo contributes
to conservation, and in being more of an educational
tool, to increase sales.” Per cap spending and
attendance both were on the incline in 2005.
The value of outside-store visibility became
apparent at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus
Christi, Texas, last year when sea life design airbrush
tattooing brought in over $30,000 in a sixmonth
period. For 2006,
gift shop manager Mary
Jo Mastrangelo had a roving
cart built on which to
display merchandise and
spark interest of guests
who no longer exit
through the store, following
a remodel in 2003.
She has also added a book
nook to the Shoreline
Gift Shop and window
displays and book shelves
to the Cove Gift Shop.
She was pleased to report
that per cap spending continues upward a little
each year, as does the aquarium attendance.
Merchandise will sport a new logo to represent the
Aquarium, Rainforest and Discovery Pyramids of
Moody Gardens Inc. in Galveston, Texas this year, in
unison with an upgrading of the main gift shop.
Manager Valencia Temple is supplementing the book
and educational section with more educational toys
for pre-K through the 3rd grade level.
Moody Gardens attendance increased from
662,844 in 2004 to 962,065 in 2005. Per cap was
up slightly, said Temple, “until the incident with
the hurricane which put us back under for the
year. We were doing extremely well right before
that happened.” Temple stated that she plans to
increase sales this year with educational merchandise
related to the new Bones exhibit in the
Discovery Pyramid.
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