Opinions wanted:Museum Gift Shop research

[Nathan]

Im researching ideas for what would be attractive to patrons in a air museum gift shop. I would like some feedback

So far my ideas would be rather specific in items. No sense in retailing items that might not make a good sale, at the same time I see the gift shop as a learning tool too; example: where people can buy books on aircraft history, etc. Also this museum would be strictly U.S. aircraft oriented.

-Strictly Revell/Monogram model kits(reasonable priced, good kits, lots of options, and they are just classics. Have a shelf of Revell/Monogram P-51s, F-102s, F-106s, Skyraider etc.) AMT kits also is of interest as they have some nice kits-now being sold as Round2 but still have the AMT logo and sometimes they re-release certain kits- XB-70, F7F, AD-5 Skyraider would be good kits on the shelf IMHO.
-Full line of model supplies to compliment the kits.
-Strictly a full line of Squadron In Action Publication books. Besides a few general aircraft of the world books, I think this is all I would stock.
-We could sure stock a few warbird mags as well.
-T-shirts and hats of limited quantity.
-Airplane pins
-Cheap airplane toys. The line you often find in retail stores come in mind that are generally $4-7.
-Museum made warbird Calendars.
-patches
-Airplane posters at reasonable prices.

I heavily believe that a museum gift shop can help keep history alive. Its were most people stop after touring a museum. I know how it is for an airplane nut like me to tour a museum and it just gets you pumped up and excited to look at all the exhibits and then being able to take something home from the gift shop.

Thanks,
Nate

thanks,
Nathan

[K5DH]

The VFM gift shop does pretty well with T-shirts, ball caps, and low-priced toys aimed at the younger kids, and moderately well with golf/polo shirts. We occasionally sell miscellaneous airplane parts (spark plugs, pistons, gauges, ammo cans, and similar small "man cave decoration" items) as long as the price is LOW. Instruments, for example, sell for $5 to $20. Any more than that and they just sit there. Model kits, display models, artwork, posters, magazines, books, postcards, patches, and pins/jewelry don't sell well at all. Our members bring aviation magazines to the hangar to be shared, and once they've made the rounds, we GIVE them away. There doesn't seem to be much interest in calendars.

[shrike]

I'd skip the model kits. There is no longer the pool of 'casual modellers' that would buy them or supplies on impulse, and the 'serious modeller' already has his sources. It will have a high buy in cost and occupy too much space while not selling well. Kid's toy airplanes would be better.

Coffee cups, provided they are not the Cafe-Press type with cheap (and non-dishwasher safe) transfers.

Most importantly avoid too much in the way of generic souvenirs, shirts etc. Make your souvenirs specific to YOUR museum. I can get a print of Barrie's Spitfire painting anywhere on line, but I can only get YOUR shirt through YOU.

<edit>
Oh, and this one is perhaps a dumb one, or maybe it's just me, but any place that has a locale specific penny squishing machine will get at least two bucks out of me.

Last edited by shrike on Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Dan K]

The VFM gift shop does pretty well with T-shirts, ball caps, and low-priced toys aimed at the younger kids, and moderately well with golf/polo shirts. We occasionally sell miscellaneous airplane parts (spark plugs, pistons, gauges, ammo cans, and similar small "man cave decoration" items) as long as the price is LOW. Instruments, for example, sell for $5 to $20. Any more than that and they just sit there. Model kits, display models, artwork, posters, magazines, books, postcards, patches, and pins/jewelry don't sell well at all. Our members bring aviation magazines to the hangar to be shared, and once they've made the rounds, we GIVE them away. There doesn't seem to be much interest in calendars.

Dean has pretty-much nailed it.

I'll add one more "man cave" item that typically sells well: Individual .50 caliber rounds.

One outfit that generates huge activity at Oshkosh each year provides t-shirts via heat transfer. The customer picks out the size, color, and style of the t-shirt. From a catalog he then selects which aviation-related transfer he wants on the shirt. A heat press does the rest. This seems like an excellent way to lower the vendor's overhead as well as providing the customer the ability to "customize" the product. Like I said, this outfit maintains a constant stream of customers to their business during OSH.

[Warbird Kid]

'll add one more "man cave" item that typically sells well: Individual .50 caliber rounds.

One outfit that generates huge activity at Oshkosh each year provides t-shirts via heat transfer. The customer picks out the size, color, and style of the t-shirt. From a catalog he then selects which aviation-related transfer he wants on the shirt. A heat press does the rest. This seems like an excellent way to lower the vendor's overhead as well as providing the customer the ability to "customize" the product. Like I said, this outfit maintains a constant stream of customers to their business during OSH.

I'm surprised to hear that they do so well. In my humble and honest opinion, heat transfers look terrible! Its all screen printing or sublimation printing for me!

[wendovertom]

From WAAAAAY out in Wendover, I pretty much totally agree. However one thing that seems to sell well here are "pinup art" clocks. They are about 14" in diameter and run on "aa" batteries; you can see them at "sporty's pilot shop" I think. Anyway, we do sell a fair amount of them. Models will simply collect dust and if they are collecting dust you are losing money.

Tom P.

[Dan K]

'll add one more "man cave" item that typically sells well: Individual .50 caliber rounds.

One outfit that generates huge activity at Oshkosh each year provides t-shirts via heat transfer. The customer picks out the size, color, and style of the t-shirt. From a catalog he then selects which aviation-related transfer he wants on the shirt. A heat press does the rest. This seems like an excellent way to lower the vendor's overhead as well as providing the customer the ability to "customize" the product. Like I said, this outfit maintains a constant stream of customers to their business during OSH.

I'm surprised to hear that they do so well. In my humble and honest opinion, heat transfers look terrible! Its all screen printing or sublimation printing for me!

I don't think you'll get much argument on quality, BUT...


1) If someone brings three kids to the museum, and

2) All three kids want a t-shirt (of the plane of each one's choice...in each one's favorite color), and

3) One t-shirt line sells for $20/unit while the other sells for $10/unit


Which shirts will the kids be wearing on the ride home?

[bdk]

1. Don't forget an online gift shop with lots of museum specific items. Not everyone is local and some may only be able to visit once a year, or perhaps never.
2. Out-of-town guests aren't going to want to buy bulky low value things that they can get at Target or the local hobby shop.
3. My son doesn't like air museums, but loves air museum gift shops. I nearly always buy him a toy or one of those airplanes that are partly built. I enjoy working together with him to assemble them and it doesn't take so long that he loses interest.
4. Squadron/Signal books and hardcover books- especially if signed by the author do well.

[Jesse C.]

The San Diego Air and Space Museum used to sell old Airplane mags for cheap. Good way to get rid of mags and make a buck!

[Lon Moer]

Just from my personal experiences, ...I was always disappointed when I couldn't find anything relating to any of the actual airplanes that were on display.
It doesn't have to be a replica or even the same plane, but if you have a B-25 in your museum, then have something B-25 in your gift shop; T-shirt , hat pin, patches, poster, ect.

[APG85]

Just from my personal experiences, ...I was always disappointed when I couldn't find anything relating to any of the actual airplanes that were on display.
It doesn't have to be a replica or even the same plane, but if you have a B-25 in your museum, then have something B-25 in your gift shop; T-shirt , hat pin, patches, poster, ect.

I completely agree...

[Pathfinder]

IMHO the gift shop at Pensacola NNAM is the perfect model of an aviation gift shop. I spend a great deal of time in it, and always come away with something. Last time it was a history of small naval combatants (ships/boats).

[Jim MacDonald]

When I volunteered at the San Diego Aerospace Museum (way before the name change) the Gift Shop used to sell very cheaply the duplicates/triplicates/quadruplicates of manuals, magazines & books that people had donated. The archives people would keep any one offs or special ones that were signed or had special historical value, but would let the Gift Shop sell the run of the mill engine or air frame manuals.

I was able to get quite a few WWII engine manuals & a WWII NATS limited edition cruise book that way. Prices were real low because they couldn't store all of them & they didn't cost the museum anything to begin with. Even selling them for just a few bucks, they still came out ahead.

Mac

[TheBigBadGman]

I've never been a fan of the 'kid appeal' angle. The things that tend to stand out to me are those items that acknowledge the museum artifacts' significance in a reverential way. Take for example the battleship North Carolina: since they replaced the wooden decking they've been selling chunks of the original deck with little brass plates on the side labeling the ship's name, launch date, and decommission date. These, alongside old WW2 era pocket hymnals are among some of their biggest sellers.

If you have any restorations going on, I'd certainly look into selling off anything that would normally be discarded - say, an unusable hunk of aluminum. (Just don't cheat people with Reynold's Wrap. Hehe)

If you have the funding, I would certainly encourage a video tour of the museum. I used to watch the old VHS tour of the Pima Air Museum regularly. The same goes with a book cataloging your collection. Larger museums tend to have collections too big to see everything in one day, and a book with professional photographs of the aircraft and artifacts is certain to garner attention - you ensure you see everything, and you have a better record of it than anything you could have taken with your family camera. I would certainly include aircraft interiors, as everybody wants to see the inside of those closed-up displays.

Just my two cents.

[Warbirdnerd]

Can coozies are good too. Nice markups and they don't take up any space. This one if from the South Dakota Air and Space Museum