A museum shop or museum store is a

gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collect ...

in a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

. Typical offerings include reproductions of works in the museum,

picture postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

s, books related to the museum's collections, and various kinds of

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

Art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

s often include clothing and decorative objects inspired by or copying artwork. Museum shops are often placed near the entrance or the exit. Temporary special exhibitions often have their own gift shops. Museum shops are often important sources of revenue for museums as public funding diminishes, and museum professionals often consider them as important elements of visitor education.John H. Falk, Lynn D. Dierking, ''The Museum Experience'', 1992, , chapter 6 In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, museum shops developed after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. At first, they were often small and not professionally managed. They became important revenue generators in the 1980s.Debra Singer Kovach, "Developing the Museum Experience: Retailing in American Museums 1945–91", ''Museum History Journal'' 7:1:103–121 (December 2013), Museum shops have become an important element of visitors' perceptions of museums.Sergio Moreno Gil, J. R. Brent Ritchie, "Understanding the Museum Image Formation Process: A Comparison of Residents and Tourists", ''Journal of Travel Research'' 47:4:480–493 (May 2009), , p. 486 Indeed, some studies show that visitors spend more time at the shop, the café, and so on, than with the exhibits.Lisbeth Bergum Johanson, Kjell Olsen, "Alta Museum as a tourist attraction: the importance of location", ''Journal of Heritage Tourism'' 5:1:1–16 (January 2010) , p. 4 Some writers on museums take an anti-commercialization position and criticize shops as undermining the cultural value of the museum.Tanja Komarac, Durdana Ozretic-Dosen, Vatroslav Skare, "The Role of the Museum Shop: Eliciting the Opinions of Museum Professionals", ''International Journal of Arts Management'' 21:3:28–41 (Spring 2019), pp. 30–31

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book, first=Mary Miley , last=Theobald , title=Museum Store Management , date=2000 , isbn=074250431X

Shop Shop or shopping refers to: Business and commerce * A casual word for a commercial establishment or for a place of business * Machine shop, a workshop for machining *"In the shop", referring to a car being at an automotive repair shop *A wood s ...

Retail formats

See also

References

Bibliography