By Donna Cavanagh
nyone who has ever uttered the words,
“Children should be seen and not heard”
has not worked in a children’s museum.
In their mission to combine
interactive play and learning,
children’s museums look to
their tiniest patrons to develop
fun and educational exhibits.
They also look to these little
consumers when deciding what
merchandise should be carried
in their museum gift shops.
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Light wood display cases highlight the
merchandise at the Children’s Museum of
Manhattan.
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Museum gift shops are as
important to the operation of a
children’s museum as the exhibits
themselves. Merchandise sold at
these shops provides a permanent
memory of a child’s time spent at
the hands-on exhibits. If the merchandise
is quality-made and parent
approved, the little patrons
and their parents will return for
future exhibits.
“We coordinate much
of our merchandise with
the exhibits themselves,”
said Gretchen Trees, Director
of Operations at the
Children’s Museum of the
Low Country in Charleston,
S.C. “One of our
exhibits is a castle. The
children want a souvenir of
their day at the castle. So
we sell a variety of products
from chunky puzzles to puppets to costumes with
a castle theme. All our merchandise is educational
and fun. They are a perfect reminder of their day
spent with us.”
Trees also believes that the
gift shop’s location allows for
more traffic. Located in the lobby,
patrons must pass through it
during their visit at the museum.
With a customer base that
ranges from age three months to
12 years, the museum displays
much of their merchandise on
shelves that are lower to the
ground so that the children can
see and touch the toys, games
and books. “The lower displays
encourage children to explore
our shop and allow parents to
see what merchandise their children
really like,” she said.
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A view of displays at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
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At the Children’s Museum of
Cleveland, accessibility to the
store merchandise is also
a priority. Located in the
lobby as well, the museum
gift shop is easy to
find for the 81,000 visitors
who pass through the
museum doors each year.
“Coordinating our
merchandise with the
exhibits is essential,”
explained Leland Merk,
Director of Operations. “We have a Bridges to the
Community exhibit which
teaches about all the important
people such as firefighters and
police officers who make our
communities work. Our target
customer is from birth to 8 years
of age. We sell fire hats, fire
trucks and police cars in our
shop to coordinate with the
exhibit. We also sell books,
many that focus on the exhibit
theme. In past exhibits about
Egypt and space exploration, we
sold pyramids, rockets and space
shuttles. We want the kids to be
able to remember the experience
they had at the museum and take
that knowledge home.”
Merk always has on hand an
abundance of museum logo merchandise
and some quick snacks
such as juice boxes and crackers.
“T-shirts and mugs with our
name on them never seem to go
out of style, and a little nourishment
can turn a cranky customer
into a happy one. That
makes Mom and Dad happy as
well.”
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Plush and toys, along with how-to educational
books, keeps the stock interesting in
the shop serving the Children’s Discovery
Museum of the Desert.
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As a relative newcomer to the
world of children’s museums,
Charlotte at Play, A Child’s
Museum in Charlotte, N.C., has
learned firsthand how important
accessibility to merchandise is for the museum shop. The 10,000 square-foot museum
which opened less than a year ago, houses 12
different exhibits including one on construction
and one on dinosaurs. In their lobby gift shop,
dinosaurs, dump trucks and puzzles on bugs
attract a lot of the toddler to early education
crowd.
“We watch the kids in the store and their parents
to see which products attract them the most,
and then we do our best to always have that in
stock,” said Lisa Shporer, the Museum Director
who has both a retail and education background.
“We try to keep many of the displays within reach
of the children so they can have a hands-on look
at the merchandise. We set up the merchandise
by categories so it’s easier to keep track of the
demand. In the first three months of operation,
our shop did $20,000. We knew we were on the
right track.”
While Shporer still sells museum logo T-shirts
and mugs, the museum shop also stocks unusual
products that bring people to the museum just
for the shop. One such product is deltasand®
which is a non-messy molding sand that never
dries out or needs water.
Susie Person, owner of the museum shop at
the Children’s Museum of Memphis, looks to the
museum’s exhibits when stocking her store. One
of a few privatized museum shops, Person understands
the importance of working with the museum’s
exhibits when setting up merchandise.
“There is always a theme you want to be a part
of. This year, there was an exhibit featuring the
Berenstain Bears™ so we had books and plush
toys associated with the exhibit. Children and
parents like the idea that they can show what they
saw at the museum to their friends at home.”
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Clean lines characterize this wall display at the Children’s
Museum of Cleveland.
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Toys and plush arranged against a primary colors background
create a playroom feel in this display at the Children’s
Museum of Cleveland.
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In her 450-square-foot store, Person also stocks
toys and merchandise that are not associated with
exhibits such as Webkinz™, plush animals that
children adopt and register on a website. Person
sets up displays of personalized mugs and plush
animals outside the gift shop to attract as many
of the 150,000 people who pass through the
museum door annually.
At Children’s Museum of Manhattan in New
York City, space is tight in their 500-square-foot
store. Retail Operations Manager Rachel
Vandevoorde starts her displays low to the
ground and stacks them up to the ceiling.
“We try to make them as bright and colorful as
possible to attract the children,” Vandevoorde
explained. “We sell a lot of puppets, puzzles and
plush animals.
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The Children’s Museum of Memphis
shop. The owner of this privately run
store understands the importance of tying
merchandise to exhibits.
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This year, the museum which boasts 300,000
visitors per year, is running an exhibit in conjunction with Nickelodeon on
Dora the Explorer™. The gift
shop with annual revenues of
over $250,000, is selling merchandise
with safari themes as
well as other interactive educational
toys such as the realistic
looking animal Folkmanis™
puppets. The museum has also
gone a step further than many
shops and now offers their merchandise
online.
Debra Jensen at the Children’s
Discovery Museum of the
Desert in Rancho mirage, Calif.,
relies on her volunteers to display
the merchandise at her
shop.
Along with merchandise that
goes with the theme of the
exhibits, The Children’s Discovery
Museum offers a variety of
“how to” educational books for
children through the early childhood
years.
Children’s museum shops are
more than a place to buy a quick
souvenir on the way out. These
gift shops require a savvy marketing
strategy to accommodate
both parent and child. Hands-on
museums are growing in number
and size, and museum directors
know that their little customers
make a big difference to their
bottom line.
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