December 1 is Museum Store Sunday, an international promotion conceived to raise the profile of every museumgoer’s favorite kind of store. And also sell a few arts and crafts, garments, toys, books and the occasional shot glass. It falls in the sweet spot right in the middle of the annual shopping-season kickoff blitz, following Black Friday and Shop Small Saturday and preceding Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday.
The November 17 Museumgoer story in the New Orleans Advocate | The Times-Picayune – read it online here – visits with a few store managers to discuss what makes museum stores unique. One of the most important takeaways is that store sales directly support each museum’s mission, so every purchase helps pay for the art, history, and education museumgoers have just experienced.
A new Museumgoer Podcast preserves the conversations I had with the folks quoted in the story and goes into greater depth on the topic. Find it here or just click on this:
Here are some images, complete with helpful timecodes, of some of the items discussed on the podcast:
Katy Maddox, who oversees the stores at the Hermann-Grima and Gallier Historic Houses, discusses these items at about 15:00. Learn more about these items here, here, and here.
Chris D. Michel, associate vice president of retail services at the National WWII Museum, discusses these items at about 30:00. Learn more about these items here and here.
Leah LeBlanc, Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience visitor services manager, discusses these items at about 43:00. Learn more about these items here and here.
Jackie DeBlieux, retail and product development manager at the New Orleans Museum of Art, discusses these items at about 53:00. Learn more about these items here, here, and here.
Visit the Museum Store Sunday website here to find a locator map of participating local museums.
Special thanks to all of the museum-store managers who helped out with this idea.
Thanks as always for reading and maybe listening.
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