Museum Store A PUBLICATION OF THE MUSEUM STORE ASSOCIATION
MUSEUM STORE SUNDAY: AN INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE THE MUSEUM STORE AS A SHOPPING DESTINATION
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3-D VIEWS: CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY AND THE DAWN OF THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM VISITOR
FALL 2017
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FUTURE SHOCK: WHAT’S IN STORE FOR RETAILERS AS WE MOVE DEEPER INTO THE 21st CENTURY?
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Fall 2017 | Volume 45 | Issue 2 Features
MANAGING EDITOR
16 Virtual Connections
Dana R. Butler dbutler@museumstoreassociation.org
Virtual reality travel—including museum visits—is not as far into the future as you might think. We explore what this means for museums and their stores. By Nima Veiseh
21 What’s in Store for Nonprofit Retailing?
The way people shop is changing rapidly, so we take a look at how expectations and the effects of online retailing might affect museum stores in the future. By Marge D. Hansen
Articles & More
2 Letter from the Board President 4 Letter from the Executive Director 6 MSA 2016 Year in Review By Jason Harbonic
MUSEUM STORE ASSOCIATION 100 N. 20th Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19103 Phone (215) 320-4667 info@museumstoreassociation.org museumstoreassociation.org Museum Store magazine (ISSN 1040-6999) is produced by the Museum Store Association. Museum Store Association and MSA are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Postmaster: Send address changes to Museum Store Association, 100 N. 20th Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19103
8 Art and Science
Taking a good look at whether your marketing plan is working the way it’s supposed to involves a mix of creativity and hard numbers. By Andrew Andoniadis
10 Museum Store Sunday
A breakdown of the details for this very important new global initiative: The who, what, where, when, and how to learn more.
12 Getting Social Media Right
As social media platforms grow in number and having a presence on these platforms grows in importance, we offer some solutions to managing it all. By Joe Dysart
14 How Does Your Salary Stack Up?
Some big players in the museum world have undertaken salary surveys— we share the results.
26 Member Story
When Matt Thys applied for a work–study job at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, he never dreamed of the people he might meet.
28 Vendor Story
Each meticulously crafted piece from VIELÄ Jewelry begins as a texture found in the natural world, whether leaf, flower, or stone.
30 Community Updates 31 Donor Story
Michael Guajardo of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts tells his story of connection with MSA.
BUYER’S GUIDE: HOLIDAY GIFTS
32 Buyer’s Guide: Holiday Gifts
Mid-year is the perfect time to plan your holiday merchandising needs and get your orders in.
PUBLISHED BY E&M Consulting, Inc. 1107 Hazeltine Boulevard Suite #350 Chaska, MN 55318 p. 800.572.0011 f. 952.448.9928 www.emconsultinginc.com
DIRECTOR OF PUBLISHING Krystie Dovenmuehler LAYOUT & DESIGN Jeremy Davis SALES MANAGER Marc Lucia
For information regarding advertising please contact Marc at 800.572.0011 or marc@emconsultinginc.com Please Note: Editorial and contents of this magazine reflect the records of the Museum Store Association. MSA has done their best to provide useful and accurate information, but please take into account that some information does change. E&M Consulting, Inc., publishers and MSA take no responsibility for the accuracy of the information printed, inadvertent omissions, printing errors, nor do they endorse products and services. We take no responsibility regarding representations or warranties concerning the content of advertisements of products/ services for a particular use, including all information, graphics, copyrighted materials, and assertions included in the advertisements. The reader is advised to independently check all information before basing decisions on such information. On the Cover: ICEBERGS, designed by James Corner Field Operations, was the central installation at the National Building Museum’s 2016 Summer Block Party series. Photo by Timothy Schenck
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FROM THE BOARD PRESIDENT FROM THE BOARD PRESIDENT
changes,advocacy, and looking ahead
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he changes to MSA over the past year have underscored for me just how important the role of museum stores can be. My commitment to this organization, and to our members, comes from a fervent belief that the work we do every day matters deeply, that museum stores matter, and that the work we do as retail professionals adds value to the museum industry and gives a net positive contribution to the world. With museum funding increasingly threatened nationwide and “advocacy” a key goal of our new MSA strategic plan, it seems particularly relevant to underscore how important all of our cultural institutions are to the world today. The arts and culture industry in America represents $704 billion, or 4.2% of the annual GDP; it supports 4.7 million jobs and yields a $24 million trade surplus for our country. Our stores play a valuable part in that revenue, those jobs, and that income. MSA provides us a platform to join together with our peers in the industry and to strengthen our ability to do this valuable work together as a unified, organized community and to amplify our individual efforts. Toward this end, MSA has an ambitious year ahead. You’ll see further execution of our 2016 Strategic Plan and the benefits of new management and staff, supporting us in enacting that plan with the wealth of knowledge and best practices that they bring. With them, you’ll also see better delivery of basic membership services, such as the new directory of all our members, and the forthcoming Retail Industry Report. We’ve gained more accountability and transparency in our financial practices as well as in the services supporting our mission, more bench strength toward building a stronger educational program, and a re-envisioned conference beneficial to members all along our experience range and age spectrum. At our conference in Pittsburgh, I shared with many of you why museum stores matter to me, personally, and I heard many of your very heartfelt stories in response. Ours is a field filled with strong connections and many illustrations of how museum stores have the power to go where the other parts of our museums can’t go—into homes, kitchens, dorm rooms, everywhere the public lives. Museum stores are a mechanism for helping people build meaningful, lifelong connections to the material and subjects in our museums. It is these connections that bring value to our work and value to our association. We embark on this year’s advocacy initiatives, in particular, keeping in mind that our stores are an essential component of connecting our communities to our cultural institutions: creating products, programs, and protocols that serve and respect these connections above all. Thank you for contributing your stories, your connections, and your contributions to this community, which helps us serve that greater interest.
MSA Board of Directors PRESIDENT Julie Steiner The Barnes Foundation Philadelphia, PA FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Ione Saroyan The New York Historical Society New York, NY SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Susan Tudor Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens Jacksonville, FL S E C R E TA R Y Blue Anderson Columbia River Maritime Museum Astoria, OR TREASURER Karen McNeely Milwaukee Art Museum Milwaukee, WI D I R E C T O R AT L A R G E Chris Michel The National World War II Museum New Orleans, LA D I R E C T O R AT L A R G E Maria Kwong Japanese American National Museum Los Angeles, CA VENDOR MEMBER ADVISOR Paul Stewart-Stand Stewart/Stand Carlsbad, CA VENDOR MEMBER ADVISOR Ari Lowenstein Emergent Workshop Westminster West, VT
Julie Steiner MSA Board President
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FROM THE BOARD PRESIDENT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
get involved
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ypically after an annual conference, there’s a lull in the action to allow you to take a deep breath and gather your thoughts. Not so with MSA. Mind you, I’m not complaining; it’s terrific to be part of an organization eager to deliver meaningful programs to their members. These programs include the following:
• An online and print directory allowing MSA members to connect and learn from each other • An updated Retail Industry Report that will provide impactful data and resources desperately needed in the museum store profession • Museum Store Sunday, November 26, 2017—an opportunity to advocate during the holiday shopping season for the unique shopping experience that museum stores provide • Outreach to our sales reps with their own membership category, thus building a connection to this vital link in the museum store business All of these are exciting new or updated initiatives MSA is committed to providing in 2017. This will keep our staff and volunteers busy for the rest of the year, but their success also relies on our members’ participation. After all, MSA is dedicated to building these programs to meet the needs of our members. We listened to you when you told us what you wanted from MSA. Now it’s your turn to take advantage of these offerings and maximize the value of your MSA membership. Without your input and usage, these resources become a wasted opportunity. Naturally, you’re asking how you can help. When MSA sends out a message asking you to update your online membership profile, take the opportunity to update the information if needed. When MSA sends you the link to participate in the Retail Industry Report survey, take the time to respond to the survey. When MSA sends you information on Museum Store Sunday and ways you can participate, help us build on the initiative so that it grows to rival Shop Small Saturday or Record Store Day. When MSA sends information to you on the sales rep membership category, take a few moments to think about the sales reps you do business with and help explain to them how MSA membership will benefit them. I know we’re asking you to take some time out of your already packed schedules. Rest assured, we wouldn’t ask you to do it if we weren’t confident it would lead to a stronger association that is better equipped to meet the challenges of the nonprofit retail environment. This is your association: the only association dedicated to the museum store industry. To remain relevant, MSA needs to grow its membership and its resources, and we need your help. Please make the commitment to help MSA in its mission of advancing the nonprofit retail industry and the success of the professionals engaged in it.
Sincerely,
Jason M. Harbonic Executive Director 4
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MSA Staff EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jason Harbonic MEETING & CONFERENCE MANAGER Amy Valentin A D M I N I S T R AT I V E C O O R D I N AT O R Alissa Jackson
MSA 2016 year in review A year of exciting new developments for our organization. BY JASON HARBONIC, MSA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
It is important to note that MSA has not outsourced its governance; MSA remains an independent association.”
2016
was undeniably a year of transformative change for MSA! Two major initiatives stand out in particular: the change in management structure and the development of the 2016–2019 strategic plan.
In August 2016, the board of directors of MSA made a bold decision regarding the future management of the association by engaging Fernley & Fernley as their association management firm. The board recognized the contributions of the dedicated MSA staff but ultimately decided that it was time to make a change that would not just stabilize the association, but also help it grow and expand its offerings. This decision was made after extensive research, analysis, and discussion among the board. Fernley & Fernley assumed operational management of MSA as of October 1, 2016. Partnering with an association management firm provides MSA with operational cost savings while still offering professional association management. It is important to note that MSA has not outsourced its governance; MSA remains an independent association. Essentially, it has hired a new office team, which handles the daily operations and project management. MSA retains control of its finances, governance, and strategy. The new staff is diligently working to update procedures and streamline operations. It’s an ongoing process, and the goal is to improve the member and volunteer experience so energy can be devoted to growing MSA. Changes are coming that will enhance the member experience and enable MSA to efficiently operate in an ever-changing world. As we work to stabilize the finances, improve communications, grow the membership, and provide value, we must still look for initiatives that will add to our portfolio of member benefits. In addition to the staffing change, the board also developed the 2016–2019 strategic plan, incorporating valuable input from the membership. The result is a comprehensive plan providing a roadmap for the coming years and guidance for board and staff decisions. The new plan clearly states the four primary goals for the coming years: • Create a dynamic program aimed at emerging professionals • Develop relevant and engaging education programming • Develop a strategic program to communicate the value and importance of nonprofit retail • Reframe the MSA conference and expo to provide greater value to attendees and exhibitors
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Attendees enjoyed networking between sessions at the 2016 Conference and Expo
Guided by the member-driven strategic plan, MSA is hard at work delivering on projects in support of these goals: • Print and online membership directory – Our online directory is currently available, and the print version will be produced before the end of the year • Updated Retail Industry Report – Update for 2017 and plans to update it every two years • Improved conference format and content – MSA Forward 2018, April 27–30 in Washington, DC • Launch of Museum Store Sunday – November 26, 2017 • Continued growth and engagement of the MSA Next group for emerging professionals
These projects, coupled with a renewed focus on growth, are compelling reasons to be energized about MSA’s future. 2016 was a turning point in our organization’s history. The move to an association management company and the development of the strategic plan were crucial to the future of MSA.
With these changes, we are well positioned to move forward. It’s a busy and exciting time! The board, volunteers, and staff are dedicated to delivering meaningful membership value to all members, and we thank you for your continued support of MSA. We never forget that our members are the foundation of the association.
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art and science Is your current marketing strategy working for you? BY ANDREW ANDONIADIS
Is the immediate revenue associated with a limited-duration special event sufficient? How is a broader engagement, such as membership purchase or volunteering measured?”
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arketing is a combination of art and science. Everything you do and evaluate should be informed by data and the results recorded. There is, however, such a thing as too much data, and as such, the key is discerning pertinent data. Collecting data just for the sake of having it—or because the POS or other systems can generate it—can be excessively time consuming and distracting and can lure you away from focusing on what’s critical. What core, relevant, and customized key performance indicators (KPIs) should you collect, and when and how will you do it? First, goals need to be set and memorialized, that is, written down in ink. Regardless of the marketing efforts eventually employed, where do you want to be at the end of a time period? If you have multiple goals, prioritize them from the beginning. What KPIs are the best measurements of progress and success? Is gross revenue the only important measure or are incremental revenue building blocks—so you have a better idea of how what happened actually happened—important too? Profitability is not being neglected, but the difference between net sales as you work your way down the profit and loss statement and the bottom line (except for expenses directly related to marketing efforts) has very little to do with marketing. How will you collect the data you need? On a monthly basis is reasonable, but more frequent data collection during critical plan execution periods may help to identify trouble spots in a more timely manner, allowing for quicker course corrections if necessary. What predictive analytics are necessary? The term sounds a bit daunting, but most museum store managers already do this as a matter of routine when determining budgets, revenue goals, and merchandise-buying plans. These comprehensive processes already include some sophisticated, established predictive analytics, such as consideration of overall attendance, ebbs and flows of visitation, and characteristics of your visitors. This effort also incorporates visitation expectations for the institution as a whole, a sixth sense about the appeal of special exhibitions, and the strength of available related products. So what are some critical objectives?
Revenue Generation Because there are so many possible sources of revenue, this is an incredibly complex metric within nonprofit retail. How do you distinguish, for example, between revenue generated by sources that are not directly influenced by marketing and those that are highly dependent on it? However, if you can track only one KPI, this would probably be the one.
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Capture Rate We know many factors affect the capture rate, such as product selection, store location, customer service, range of pricing, merchandising, display, and more. Marketing can affect the rate of improvement by driving awareness of some or all of these factors. The number of people crossing the threshold into the store is not part of the typical capture rate calculation. However, knowing this number and comparing it to the information that is part of the capture rate calculation can help identify a disconnect between marketing the store and the customer experience.
Return on Investment (ROI) This may be the most important criterion in that it takes more than just revenue into consideration. Once a marketing goal has been established, ROI can be used to compare and understand the efficiency of different marketing approaches. What did it cost in terms of money, staffing, and other resources to reach your goals? What was the result as measured by applicable criterion?
A factor that enhances—and complicates—the calculation of ROI is the definition of the length of time encompassed by “return.” Is the immediate revenue associated with a limited-duration special event sufficient? How is a broader engagement, such as membership purchase or volunteering measured? Although this is a complicated question, newer, more sophisticated POS systems with purchase history capture have the capability to provide the information required. In summary, to determine if a marketing strategy is working for you, set expectations, focus on the most important components incorporated in the marketing effort, and consistently measure and record results. Andrew Andoniadis is the Principal at Andoniadis Retail Services, a consulting company that has specialized in profitgenerating and function layout and design strategies for museum stores for 25 years. He can be reached at 503.629.9279, Andrew@MuseumStoreConsult.com or www.MuseumStoreConsult.com.
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museum store sunday MSA is set to launch an exciting new initiative that will change the way shoppers approach the holidays.
Museum Store Sunday is an ideal addition to the holiday shopping experience, but more importantly, it is an ideal time to focus attention, increase awareness, and advocate the importance of museum stores and the institutions they represent.”
e
ach year in late November, consumers are encouraged to participate in shopping campaigns for Black Friday, Shop Small Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. Consumers plan their holiday purchases to coordinate with these days, and participating retailers see a resulting patterned spike in sales. The Museum Store Association has developed a similar shopping campaign, sandwiched in the middle of these events, called Museum Store Sunday.
MSA’s launch of the first Museum Store Sunday is scheduled for November 26, 2017, and will include museums and stores in the United States and around the world. Participation is open to all nonprofit retailers whether they are MSA members or not; however, MSA members will receive special marketing information and event and publicity assistance. Museum Store Sunday is an ideal addition to the holiday shopping experience, but more importantly, it is an ideal time to focus attention, increase awareness, and advocate the importance of museum stores and the institutions they represent. This annual international shopping campaign will help MSA achieve its strategic goal to communicate to the world the value and importance of nonprofit retail with its curated products and unique experiences. The purpose of Museum Store Sunday is manifold: • To engage communities to support their cultural institutions during the holiday shopping season • To encourage culturally minded shoppers to see museum stores as a shopping destination • To showcase and promote the beautifully curated products and unique experiences that museum stores offer to consumers • To offer museum membership opportunities to new patrons while supporting these institutions • To support the vendors, designers, and artisans who sell to the museum store community on a local, national, and international level • To encourage mission-driven shopping that tangibly extends each museum’s educational programs and experience • To promote the value and importance of museum stores to the general public and the world
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The initiative has already begun rolling out across the country. Branding and sponsorships have been established and secured, and the website is up and running; check it out at www. MuseumStoreSunday.org. Marketing, PR, and social media campaigns were launched throughout the month of August. Look for a branded marketing package to be created and distributed to MSA members as well as marketing collateral, which will be available for download by each MSA member for use in print, in their store, and online. As part of these efforts, a standardized, branded press release has been created and is available on our website for each MSA
member for customization, including a logo, tagline, color palette, and standard verbiage. Local customization is strongly encouraged, and individual museums are considering offering free admission to exhibits, extension of museum and museum store hours, local vendor and artisan trunk shows, new product introductions, and dayof discounts. For further information, contact MSA’s 2nd vice president, Susan Tudor (904.899.6036, studor@ cummermuseum.org) or immediate past president Stuart Hata (415.750.3511 shata@famsf.org).
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getting social media right The top dashboards for marketing on a range of networks. BY JOE DYSART
Social media dashboards… pull together all the tools you need to get the most out of the communications media you’re working with.”
Asset management and monitoring tools from Percolate.
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s social media takes over the world, users who rely on a variety of platforms are increasingly looking for ways to coordinate a social media presence across multiple channels or accounts through a single point of interaction. Enter the social media dashboard—a digital interface that pulls together all the tools you need to manage social media posts and monitoring on one page.
For those of you bemoaning yet another new technology to be learned, an example: If you use Gmail on a regular basis, you are already using a digital dashboard. Once you log into Gmail, you’re greeted with a list of recent emails along with tools in the sidebar that allow you to star specific emails as important, look at your sent mail only, read over your draft mails, launch an online chat, and more. Social media dashboards work the same way; they pull together all the tools you need to get the most out of the communications media you’re working with. And although no one tool can truly do it all, most go a long way toward managing virtually all the elements of a highly effective and highly interactive social media presence. Museum stores looking to manage all their social media campaigns from a single dashboard can thank market research firm Forrester for doing the comparative legwork (in a report authored by Nate Elliot). Essentially, the company kicked the tires on the major social media dashboards currently on the market and came up with a short list of those worth looking at: • Percolate (percolate.com) • Sprinklr (www.sprinklr.com) • Spredfast (www.spredfast.com) Overall, Forrester researchers found that these dashboards could make it easier for users to manage dozens of social employees and accounts, according to Elliot. Specifically, the products Forrester puts at the front of the pack automate the scheduling and posting of text and multimedia across a wide array of networks. In addition, most of the solutions also enable a museum and/or the store to monitor how its brand is faring on social media—among casual users of Facebook and other networks as well as more engaged influencers, such as bloggers. The dashboards from these three companies were also found to be best at helping users automate the processing of messages, including reading, analyzing, and sorting out who at the museum should respond to a specific post by assigning various levels of access to your business’ social media campaign and offering workflow tools that route inbound posts to the right teams.
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A display of Sprinklr’s tools.
Here’s how the top three programs stack up, according to the Forrester report. Percolate’s package was found to be the best bet for users looking to integrate their social marketing into broader marketing strategies. The drive behind Percolate was to build a marketing system of record that lets users centralize their operations across all marketing channels, streamline their workflows and governance, analyze their results, and optimize their marketing programs. Researchers also say the platform boasts best-in-class workflow and content-creation tools. Plus, Percolate has a rather nifty “Brew” tool, which tracks custom-defined lists of media outlets and influencers chosen by the user to be monitored, looks for topics related to your museum’s online themes, and then prioritizes the specific topics on which you should publish. On the downside, Percolate’s analysis, prioritization, and routing of inbound posts are limited to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, according to the report. Spredfast is reported to be best at offering users insights and advice as they work on a social media marketing campaign. Specifically, it tracks comments and questions that pop up from customers that you are trying to engage on social media. Moreover, as museum stores use the package, it recommends popular
hashtags related to your content and suggests alternative wording that might generate more interest. Clients that researchers interviewed had good things to say about Spredfast’s onboarding and support. However, with Spredfast it can be difficult to collaborate and share ideas via the package, and its measurement tools were considered only average. Sprinklr is good for users who have broad social needs and endeavors to offer clients every imaginable social tool. In addition, Sprinklr’s team is happy to custom-build add-ons. The package’s monitoring and publishing features were found to be strong, but researchers found Sprinklr’s desire to integrate a somewhat unwieldy number of technologies resulted in a high level of complexity and relatively poor ease-of-use. For museum stores that want to dig deeper and do extremely detailed comparisons of these strong performers, Forrester (www.forrester. com) has a “vendor comparison tool,” which enables organizations to adapt Forrester’s criteria weighting to fit their specific needs. Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan. Voice: (646) 233-4089. Email: joe@joedysart.com. Web: www.joedysart.com.
how does your salary stack up? Two major players in the museum world recently published salary surveys. We take a look at the retail aspect of these reports.
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…overall, growth in average salary levels has kept pace with levels of economic growth throughout the country…”
n anticipation of MSA’s upcoming Retail Industry Report, we examined a couple of recent salary surveys conducted by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) with a focus—of course—on the position of “Museum Store Manager.”
The AAM report compared museum store manager salaries based on region of the country; size of the museum’s budget; type of museum; nonprofit vs. government-operated; gender; level of education; and whether the institution is located in an urban, suburban or rural environment. Median salaries ranged from $32,000 to $56,222. Here are a few highlights: • Region: The highest median salaries were found at those institutions located with the Western Museums Association region (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, the Western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and the Pacific Islands). • Budget: The highest median salaries ($49,754) corresponded to the largest museum budgets (over $3 million); however, the second highest ($45,000) were at institutions with budgets falling into the second lowest level surveyed ($250,001–$500,000). • Discipline: Art museums bested history-focused institutions by a narrow margin (median salaries: $47,946 and $47,000, respectively). • Governance: Nonprofit organizations reported higher median salaries than government-run operations by more than $10,000; however, those museums that fell into the “other” category were yet another $10,000 higher ($56,222). • Gender: The majority of those surveyed were women, and they reported higher salaries than men at the median point ($45,000 vs. $40,372); however, at the 75th and 90th percentiles, men reported notably higher salaries. • Highest degree completed: Across the board, respondents with a four-year degree reported higher salaries (median: $46,802) over both those with twoyear degrees or less education as well as those with master’s degrees. • Location: Top numbers were reported by museum store managers at urban locations (median: $50,508).
Image ©istock/jansucko
The full report is both interesting and illuminating, and can be purchased at http:// www.aam-us.org/about-museums/salary-survey.
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The AAMD analyzed responses from 219 member art museums throughout North America and note that, overall, growth in average salary levels has kept pace with levels of economic growth throughout the country: approximately 2%–3% annually over the past six years. With 166 art museum store managers responding, the AAMD found that the median salary was $53,000, which is an increase from 2011 ($47,629). The largest number of responding museums were split evenly into two categories of operating budget: 40 museums in the highest category of $20 million or higher (median salary: $87,200) and 40 museums that fall nearer the lower end in the category of $2.5 to $5 million (median salary: $46,217). In terms of region of the country, respondents were broken down into seven regions. The highest mean salaries ($75,560) were reported in the Mid-Atlantic area (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) while the highest median salaries ($64,069) were reported among the Western states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington). The full report can be downloaded at https://aamd.org/our-members/fromthe-field/salary-survey. It includes a closer look at the characteristics, both general and fiscal, of the responding museums, a breakdown of the institutions by type (private, government, college or university), a look at the ways salaries and raises are determined, and an in-depth look at types of benefits and who receives them—all nicely presented by Stax, Inc. M U S E U M S TO R E
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Šistock.com/ivansmuk
virtual connections The impact of virtual reality technology on museums and their retailers is poised to become major in the next decdes.
BY NIMA VEISEH
t
his year marked the first time in modern history that virtual reality (VR) technology was made affordable and commercially available to the public. For the price of buying a standard gaming console, such as a Nintendo, you can now experience a growing universe of options in VR that range from interactive feature films to lectures at Ivy League universities.
Modern VR technology converts every form of physical or digital media once observable only on two-dimensional screens into immersive experiences that provide surreal, life-like capability with scale and senses. Because of this, museums and similar institutions will have to look toward offering more sophisticated options for visits, guided tours, and purchases from their gift shops during “digital visits.�
When Oculus got into the game with its Rift, a world of virtual reality opened to users.
The history of VR dates back to 1939 and the Stereoscope, a toy that children could put up to their eyes to see a still image in three dimensions. By the 1960s, immersive machines like the Sensorama enabled you to sit and fit your head into a device to feel as if you were actually somewhere else. Not until the 1990s did we see VR technology like we do today: as an experience that can be felt while standing up and mobile. These initial technologies, however, lacked resolution and were slow with lag. Lag occurs when your eye moves but the image as your brain sees it is slow to change. In the real world, when you move your eyes from one point to another, there is no lag because the light entering your eyes changes instantaneously. Lag meant that neither the eye nor the brain was tricked into believing that it was somewhere else in the real world. Basic vector graphics put the user in a digital world resembling something from a 1980s science fiction film.
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©istock.com/ philipimage Photo: Dennis Brack/Black Star, National Gallery of Art
3-D technology has its roots in early entertainment devices like the stereoscope.
The National Gallery of Art has far more items in its archives than could ever be displayed at once—in real life.
Through the 1990s and 2000s, increasing computing power enabled companies from Pixar to Google to use 3-D rendering technology in more common commercial ways, such as for feature films and Google Maps. However, it was not until 2010, when Oculus came along with a commercially available device that covered a full 90° field of vision, that VR started to feel truly immersive. Just as important, the software was able to render images fast enough to trick the eye into believing there was no lag. With no lag, the eye and brain are fully tricked into believing that the virtual world is no different from the real world. At my company, Dress Abstract, we use the same 3-D technology to translate the texture and essence of art and other artifacts directly onto fabric, capturing the texture and light experienced by the user. Our team of MIT engineers worked with classically trained artists to develop our technology and process, to make people feel as if they were standing in front of the painting. The ways museums will be implementing these methods using VR to transform the way they and their stores connect with patrons is threefold.
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First and foremost, the exhibitions will become digital and immersive, allowing patrons to visit an institution and use it for leisure or educational purposes from any part of the world. No longer will patrons need to buy a plane ticket to see a museum exhibition; they will be able to put on a headset that brings them to the front door of the museum, and they will be guided just as they would by a teacher, docent, or prerecorded audio tour.
of Art (NGA), for instance, has more than 100,000 artifacts that range from paintings and prints to sculptures and photographs, of which only about 5% ever see the light of day at one time while the rest of the priceless collection remains in storage. To share more of their collections, museums will, for example, lend items to other institutions or create traveling exhibitions. However, transporting priceless artifacts can be expensive and risky, which makes this not the most common of practices.
Second, it is going to change the experiential meaning of what a museum provides for patrons. If a whole class of children can take a school trip to a museum without leaving the classroom, then that museum will have to develop other customer experiences to bring individuals through the doors. And this means that the digital department of a museum will be just as important as the curation and management of the institution because just as many patrons will be walking through the digital doors as the physical ones.
In addition, the costs associated with real estate can cause a strain on many institutions’ ability to operate. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, for example, was opened in 1890 and remained so until folding in 2014 after years of financial trouble. This resulted in almost 17,000 pieces of art being transferred to the NGA, an institution whose walls were already full. This trend of consolidation among institutions is not likely to stop as attendance and financial priorities become growing issues into the future.
Third, collections that were not available because of space will be available year-around. The National Gallery
These financial concerns also have repercussions for museum stores and their managers. First, with more
individuals attending museums online through VR, the only way for patrons to purchase gifts or souvenirs will be through a digital portal. When a patron is shopping in a digital space instead of a physical one, shops will be competing with portals such as Amazon.com offering items for sale at prices cheaper than what the museum store can offer, so museum stores will need to be more nuanced about their merchandise. Second, the quality of the experience patrons have when shopping needs to match the quality of the experience they just had in their virtual museum visit. More than ever, purchases are going to become about connecting the visitor back to the experience of the museum with products that give the patron a touch point between the virtual museum visit and the real world. Digital guests will want pieces that are true to the life of the actual pieces that they would have seen had they been there, which means merchandise will become more sophisticated and true to the form of the exhibits.
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was founded in 1869 and closed its doors in 2014. This c. 1880 image of its first building at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC (now the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery) by John H. Cocks, is now in the National Gallery of Art’s Corcoran Collection—alongside approximately 17,000 of the gallery’s works transferred to the NGA.
Third, stores can expect more online traffic, and not just from English speakers, but from every part of the world; content will need to be diversified for audiences no matter what part of the world they are coming from. Museums already offer audio tours and guides in every major language, and virtual visitors will also be able to shop without ever leaving their homes. More than ever, this means museum store managers will need to be as knowledgeable about upcoming exhibitions as curators, so if they don’t already, museums will have to provide a seat at the discussion table to store managers when making planning decisions. Fourth, with the increase in e-commerce sales, physical distribution capabilities will grow in importance. With more products being shipped instead of taken by hand from the store, museum stores will need to develop lines of support for fulfillment centers and consider additional distribution partners. Based on these considerations, it only makes sense to anticipate that stores will become an even more important
source of revenue for their respective nonprofit institutions. The number of potential patrons will increase to include the entire population of Earth: a rise from about 7 million visitors a year, the current annual attendance of the world’s largest museums, to up to 7 billion! So as the experience of going to the museum becomes purely digital for a large portion of visitors, other revenue feedback factors, such as cafes, will be reduced, and we can purport that the foregoing of snack bar options will render the museum store as the only potential source of added revenue. For guests, the store will be their only physical connection with the institution, and the money and resources saved from not traveling could be an impetus for spending more on gifts and mementos. As is true of any paradigm shift in technology, we must be prepared to embrace how it is going to affect our business going forward. Already, social media platforms, such as Instagram, are being used to measure the success or popularity of exhibitions and institutions. The digitalization of
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The author’s company, Dress Abstract, uses VR technology to produce unique textiles.
the museum experience is only going to continue. Investing in superior digital portals and VR technology will be how stores and museums stay relevant long into the 21st century. Nima Veiseh is the founder of Dress Abstract, a company that uses digital technology to authentically translate the texture and essence of art from canvas to fabric. He has degrees from Columbia University, Georgetown University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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The record-breaking KEVA Planks tower built in the National Building Museum’s Great Hall
what’s in store for nonprofit retailing? In the future, adapting to the new world of retailing will be a challenge but result in customer rewards. BY MARGE D. HANSEN
Just as each generation introduces new ways of observing, opening up, and expanding the human experience, future thinking incorporates these core notions and spins them in entertaining and enticing directions. And as museums and other nonprofit institutions craft short- and long-term plans for increasing visitation, participation, and retail sales, new themes are energizing exhibitions and refashioning merchandising efforts. This latest, modern-day rebirth has everything to do with technology, sustainability, fair trade, local sourcing, and individualizing an experience—concepts shoppers have come to value. The National Retail Federation (NRF) has identified several insights and potential changes retailers will want to take note of to best serve customers in the future. Museum retailers can follow this lead to remain competitive in the marketplace. Although many looming changes, such as chatbots and one-click payment, are early stage or big data–related and primarily pertinent to retail giants, several of the NRF strategies are a good fit for museum stores. These include “cultivating the brand”—something museum stores have consistently found to be a customer pleaser. “Engagement and relevancy” are also proven techniques for successfully interacting with museum store visitors but will require a shift to capture the attention of next-gen Millennials and Generation Z and to match the way they shop.
Goliath and David As a futurist, Elizabeth Merritt, vice president of strategic foresight with the American Alliance of Museums, is tasked with asking the important questions about what is likely to happen in the next five, 10, and even 20 years in a variety of areas, including retail. “One of the overall trends I am seeing in retail is the immense power of the Internet to provide people with immediate gratification when they are shopping. Companies like Amazon are pioneering ways to make it ever faster to get things,” says Merritt, explaining that staged delivery via strategically placed warehouses has now accelerated the time between a click and having the merchandise in your hands. Digging deeper, predictive analytics, according to Merritt, allows the Amazons of the world to foresee what consumers are likely to buy. “By the time you order it, they already have it staged near your house,” she says, a practice with which it is impossible for museums to compete. M U S E U M S TO R E
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However, Merritt offers three key advantages museum stores have that can help them play to their strengths. • Meaningful and experience-based shopping: Merritt says, “This is an opportunity to tie the shopping experience to something that museums do really well, which is storytelling.” • Personalization—a trend in consumer desires: “We are seeing an ever-greater expectation of people to find an object that is unique to them. Museums can build on this trend,” says Merritt, “by growing their digital collections and making it possible for people to purchase on-demand manufacturing as in ‘I am going to send my order to the store, and they are going to print a poster or a memory book of my favorite paintings.’ The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is on the forefront of this open-data movement. They are saying yes, print your T-shirt from our images, put it on your card, get a tattoo,” Merritt says. “Vendors do it, but clearly museums could do it, too.”
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The “Milwaukee Collects” exhibition store at the Milwaukee Art Museum featured items primarily made or designed by local artists.
• Value-based retail: “There is a growing desire to use money in a way that does good in the world,” says Merritt. “The dialogue is pivoting to every dollar you spend creates the kind of world you live in. People are looking at the ethical consequences of their purchase. Consumers like that the museum stores’ message is that when you buy from these shops, you are not only getting something you think is cool, you are supporting the mission that ties what we do to creating a better world.”
In addition, shops and the other departments in the museum must be closely integrated. “When you understand the whole ecology of how you reach people, you create a very cohesive and powerful message,” Merritt says. “When the shop is treated as a stand-alone, income-generating operation where the decisions aren’t tied to all the other considerations, I think it actually undermines its own competitive advantage.”
The main store at the Milwaukee Art Museum
As a former department store buyer and now nonprofit retailer, Karen McNeely, director of retail operations at the Milwaukee Art Museum and MSA’s current treasurer, has spotted two major trends in for-profit retailing that occupy opposite ends of the spectrum: big and little. “Obviously online shopping has taken on a life of its own, and it’s difficult for brick-andmortar stores to catch up logistically to online giants who have dominated this area. Their disadvantage is the impersonal nature of the transaction,” she says. “The other end of this is small, local businesses. As much as ever, people want a connection with who they are buying from and/or for their purchases to mean something. The experience is just as important as the product, and that’s where we, as museum stores, can excel.”
Courtesy of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
McNeely uses an exhibition exit store as an example of visitors enjoying the moment and choosing a remembrance with less regard to price. “Our former director told me that my store for our ‘Inspiring Beauty’ exhibition was
confusing for visitors because it wasn’t clear where the exhibition ended and the store began,” she says. “To me, that was the ultimate compliment. Although traffic for the exhibition wasn’t as strong as expected, the sales in the store were fantastic. We encouraged ladies to try on the hats and faux fur jackets, take selfies and share them on social media. They had a great time, and many of them bought what they tried on.” Remembering Elizabeth Merritt’s call for meaningful, experience- and value-based selling, McNeely agrees that gifts from a museum shop have a special caché. Yet people don’t necessarily view museum shops as destination stores. McNeely thinks this is where the Museum Store Sunday initiative will be “a huge push for nonprofit retailers.” Similar to Black Friday, Shop Small Saturday, and Cyber Monday, MSA’s first Museum Store Sunday on November 26, 2017, will make museum store shopping during the upcoming holiday season top of mind and promote the value of curated products to shoppers worldwide. (Visit MuseumStoreSunday.org for more event information.) MSA past president Stuart Hata, director of retail operations for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, concurs. “Each of our stores is a unique experience, and in this day and age of declining retail malls and big box, cookie-cutter retail throughout the country, museum stores will stand out as one-of-a-kind shopping experiences that not only offer distinctive and educational merchandise, but also allow consumers to feel good by giving back and supporting their local communities through museum store purchases,” he says.
The varied selection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts store
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Courtesy of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The dramatic Yves Saint Laurent exhibition (at right) at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was punctuated with an equally stunning shopping opportunity (below).
Getting Ready At the end of the day, a store is a store is a store. “It’s kind of like someone who is dressed well but has a bad personality. It’s only going to get you so far,” says Michael Guajardo, director of retail operations at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in Richmond, who endorses enriching the shopping experience. Guajardo and his team are preparing to engage the next generation of buyers by researching what they are interested in and their shopping behavior, which highlights online sales. “We want our online site to be as beautiful as our store. We do professional photography. We ensure that we have unique products that you can only find in our museum store. We don’t have to compete with other people because we are the only ones who have that uniquely developed piece,” he says. Average online sales for museum stores are about 2% of total sales. At VMFA, online sales hover between an impressive 4% and 5%. The goal is to reach 10% in the next few years. “We want to grow that business because it has no borders,” Guajardo says, underscoring the museum’s support for extending the VMFA experience globally through the store’s website.
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“E-commerce is only going to increase in importance for museum stores,” says Hata. “Through an e-commerce channel, museum stores are not dependent upon the physical traffic to their museums, and equally important, e-commerce further fulfills and extends the educational mission of the museum store by going beyond the physical space to engage with visitors and customers.” Hata adds, “Mobility is going to be the key word for nonprofit retail. The ability to not only handle mobile point-of-sale transactions, but also the mobility of setting up pop-up stores and events to accompany exhibitions, special events, and where the visitors congregate in museums.
Mobility will also mean the ability to respond quickly to consumer habits and offering quick and easy shopping options and transactions for our everbusier clientele.” Internal cooperation and reinvention are essential to success from Guajardo’s point of view. “You never want to become complacent. We are constantly competing with ourselves,” he says. “People like our store and our pop-up shops, but what we are going to do next is my personal motivator.”
Embracing Innovation Michael Higdon, retail manager at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., was an early adopter of 3-D printing when the
Toys and games on display at the National Building Museum Store
manufacturers, who sponsored a “Big Build” festival at the museum. The manufacturer attempted to build a Guinness World Record–breaking toy structure in the museum’s Great Hall. They didn’t set a new record, but the event drew massive crowds as did the construction of a KEVA Toys wood plank tower that did set a new record. “To drive business in fun and interesting ways and stay ahead of the game, you’ve got to think outside the box and partner with people who can help you achieve things,” Higdon says. This aligns with Merritt’s advice to forget reinventing the process and blend talents to improve the outcome—and the capture rate.
Nonprofit retailers are purveyors of provenance, creativity, and above all, the experience, which remains the number one differentiator between museum stores and for-profit merchants. “People, nowadays, are geared toward experiences—seeing and touching,” says Higdon. “To reach the next generation of museum goers, pairing the product with extending the experience is still the perfect match.” Marge D. Hansen is a freelance writer based in Broomfield, Colorado. She recently wrote an article, “The Beauty and Profitability of Product Development,” which appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Museum Store magazine.
Two versions of The BIG Maze: A 3-D–printed model and the installation filling the Great Hall at the National Building Museum
museum purchased one of these technological wonders. For the last several years, 3-D–printed items were actually produced for the museum’s annual Summer Block Party installations, which include 2014’s The BIG Maze, 2015’s The BEACH, and 2016’s ICEBERGS. “People heard about us having the 3-D printer in the store, so it was a draw,” Higdon says, adding that the printer was originally used to describe the method and then transition visitors to purchase 3-D– printed merchandise. Partnering with outside sources is also a successful tactic to attract interest and drive sales. A few years back, the National Building Museum collaborated with one of its product M U S E U M S TO R E
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member story: matt thys Serving as retail operations manager at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center has afforded this MSA member some surprising opportunities.
One of the top perks of the job…is seeing the children completely mesmerized as they step through the front doors.”
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he University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill’s historic Morehead Planetarium was the first planetarium built in the South—only the sixth in the United States—as well as the first on a college campus. Seventeen months of construction came to a close in 1949, and Morehead soon rose to prominence during the Space Race, when it became the celestial navigation training center for more than 60 astronauts, including 11 of the 12 men who walked on the moon. Since that time, the institution has evolved into a field trip destination for more than 250,000 school children each year (the institution added “Science Center” to the name in 2002) and the second largest on-campus employer of UNC–Chapel Hill students. It was as a student that Matt Thys first came to UNC–Chapel Hill in 2005 as an undergraduate student, and Morehead was the first job for which he interviewed as part of his federal work–study program. He stuck with it throughout his undergraduate years and even after graduation, eventually becoming the assistant manager in the gift shop. Later, when his manager retired, he was promoted and moved into the role of retail operations manager. One of the top perks of the job, Thys says, is seeing the children completely mesmerized as they step through the front doors. “For a lot of the schoolkids that visit, this is their first chance to get out of their hometowns and see more of North Carolina as well as seeing a college campus up close,” he adds. “The building is so rich in history, and folks can really feel it when they’re walking around. That is where it all comes together—not just representing a fantastic and interesting field, but essentially being the front doors to one of the greatest universities in the world.” These days, Thys says the biggest challenges he encounters include staying competitive and making sure the nonprofit connection between the store and the larger institution is well known. “All too often you overhear a lot of stuff like ‘we can get that online’ or ‘we’re going to another store later.’ A small store, like ours, can’t always compete with the lower prices of these larger retailers, but we can assure the customer that the money is going to a much better place,” he says. “All of the revenue from the gift shop is rolled back into the funding for programming and enrichment visits, and we make sure to put signage up that reflects that to the customer.” Thys adds that it is a priority for him to stock products—such as Newton’s cradles, flavors of freeze-dried astronaut ice cream, and radiometers—that are unique to the store while also furthering the planetarium’s mission to be a resource to science enthusiasts (and prospective ones).
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Beyond providing a fun and interesting job after college, working at Morehead has afforded Thys a bevy of unexpected opportunities. “I’ve been really lucky to meet a wonderfully eclectic group of humans since I first came here in 2005, from the likes of [Apollo 13 astronaut] Jim Lovell and [Apollo 16 astronaut] Charlie Duke to the family of [African American NASA mathematician] Dorothy Vaughan and [current] Governor Roy Cooper,” he says. “I would have never imagined, as a kid in the rural mountains of North Carolina, that I would get to see a statewide STEM proclamation signed by an acting governor or sit and talk with a man that has a crater on the moon named after him.”
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vendor story: VIELÄ jewelry
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Textures found in the natural world translate into striking designs.
I began to understand that our lives and our stories can be told through our own personal treasures, collected along the way.”
IELÄ Jewelry, located in Chester County, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, was founded in 2014. Angela Colasanti, VIELÄ’s president and designer, says she first gained inspiration on walks near her family’s home. “Along the trails in our community,” she says, “my daughter would find small rocks, buds, leaves, and flowers. She would admire them, tuck them into her pockets, and bring them home to add to her collection of found objects. To her, they were beautiful treasures. To us...they were just weeds and rocks.” However, her attitude soon evolved. “After months of collecting,” Colasanti says, “I could see that these seemingly simple found objects each had an important story and meaning to her. And she could retell her stories for each and every one.” Colasanti began to develop a new perspective: “I started to see the natural forms and textures of these objects in ways that I had not previously seen: the beautiful edge of a leaf, the tangled asymmetry of roots, and the delicacy of flower petals laying on one another.” She says, “It reminded me of my own childhood memories…the woody smell of the autumn leaves, finding shells along the beach, and the fragrant scent of my grandmother’s rosebushes. I began to understand that our lives and our stories can be told through our own personal treasures, collected along the way.” The company name is rooted in the idea that the designs are sampled from objects that have experienced life. VIELÄ is an anagram of the word ÄLIVE, and it is also a Finnish word that means “still to come” or “yet to be.” Colasanti says, “My connection to this idea was so strong…every day, I would see my daughter look to the natural world around her for little treasures, just as I had done all those years ago. Finding and sharing this beauty became my inspiration.” VIELÄ has two signature collections, Walking Trail and Endless Ocean, both of which feature textures gathered in and around the area in Pennsylvania where the company is located close to New Jersey and Delaware beaches. Colasanti begins by sampling textures directly from the found objects. Wildflowers, grasses, buds, leaves, shells, and sea life are part of her palette. Then, through a multistep process, she transposes these natural textures into interpretive sterling silver and bronze jewelry, sometimes adding accents in gold, pearls, and precious and semiprecious gemstones. Each design is a real impression of the botanical—not stamped, carved, or created by a computer—cast in New Mexico and then assembled and packaged in-house at VIELÄ.
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VIELÄ’s Posy necklace was created from wild thyme (left), and the Light Divided necklace features the texture of moss (right).
patrons can wear for years to come,” she says. “The pieces allow the patrons to once again see or feel an object in the same way they did when standing in the museums or gardens on the day of their visit.”
“My favorite designs often come from a natural texture that I have gathered while on a special trip or from a sampling of natural objects that friends or family members give to me,” Colasanti says. “Oftentimes, my family and friends will return from a vacation and hand me a bag of shells or a small cooler of collected ferns and flowers, and they will tell me the story of their connection to these little treasures.” For example, the Light Divided necklace is sampled from a mossy stick her mother found along a trail in New Hampshire, the Posy Necklace is sampled from wild thyme she gathered while visiting her brother’s cabin in upstate New York, and the Tangled Hearts earrings are sampled from seaweed that wrapped itself around her daughter’s feet at a beach in New Jersey. “Regardless of whether I found the object, or friends and family helped along the way,” she says, “I can always recall and retell the origin story for every piece in the collection. I know when and where each of the botanicals was found.” Colasanti received her B.A. in art from Moravian College and has been designing jewelry for more than 10 years. She was recently awarded the 2016 SCORE Success Award and was a Top 10 Finalist in the prestigious 2015 Halstead Grant Competition, which recognizes excellence in both design and business. As a vendor member of MSA, Angela serves on the
advocacy committee and is honored to be part of the group responsible for planning Museum Store Sunday. Another passion is ensuring customers understand what they are paying for. “We are particularly passionate about creating a culture of transparency within the jewelry industry by accurate and well-intentioned disclosure of materials, gemstone treatments, and materials origins,” she says. “We strive to return consumer confidence back into the jewelry industry and work to educate buyers and consumers on best practices for proper disclosure.” VIELÄ’s collections are a good fit for our industry because they capture the actual forms, shapes, and textures a visitor might experience at art museums, botanical gardens, arboretums, natural history museums, historic homes with gardens, and nautical institutions. “Beaut y, elegance, and timeless style are the foundations of our products,” Colasanti says. “Our interchangeable collections, exclusive packaging, wide array of price point and custom merchandising options create unique offerings that can resonate across a continuum of museum missions.” She is also cognizant of the relationship museum store merchandise strives to create between the institutions and their patrons. “We build longevity into our products with jewelry designs that
Colasanti also creates custom designs for new exhibitions or special events or as a signature piece for the organization. These pieces can incorporate natural elements sampled directly from, or special to, the grounds of an organization’s property or can be a newly conceptualized interpretation, infused with a chosen natural element. VIELÄ’s latest collaboration is with Delaware’s Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. A custom earring and necklace set features a sampling of fresh Lily of the Valley. Colasanti says, “Historically, this springtime flower is special to the grounds of the estate and was often gifted by Henry Francis du Pont to visitors of the property. He once gave a bouquet of Lily of the Valley to Jackie Kennedy when she visited Winterthur.” “Every day, we feel honored to be working primarily within the museum and cultural sectors,” she says. “We believe a thriving culture is dependent on the preservation of art, literature, history, science, and culture. We understand that museum stores play a vital role in the mission and support of their institutions and we strive to develop business relationships specifically in this sector.” She adds, “I have been a museum lover ever since I was a child. Oftentimes on weekends, our family took trips to a zoo, an aquarium, art museums, gardens, and natural history museums. My parents instilled in me an appreciation and love of art, fine crafts, and culture. I am very proud of my work, and I love that my products are helping to support those same institutions that I have cherished throughout my entire life.”
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COMMUNITY UPDATES
Mark Hancock Photography
updates from the MSA community
Tina Harding, retail manager of Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts, got the “Elvis Chapel” experience when she and fiancé Dave got married during the Las Vegas gift show in early August.
Filoli in Woodside, California, recently announced that Michael Kline has joined the Clock Tower Shop at Filoli as the assistant manager of retail operations. Michael will oversee the day-to-day operations and inventory management of the retail program. Michael brings many years of retail experience, including three years as retail sales manager at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. Previously, he served as retail manager for the Titanic Exhibition and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts museum gift shop in Philadelphia.
Ann Nicknish is the new director of retail and visitor services at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa. Her first 90 days have been focused on learning inventory in the 1,888-squarefoot store and researching inventory for new exhibitions as well as becoming familiar with the wonderful community and educational programs the Figge provides.
In Memorium MSA is very sad to learn about the passing of longtime MSA vendor member and supporter, Juliette Galant of FOTOFOLIO. Julie was a member of MSA for more than 20 years and was the recipient of the 2014 MSA Service Award. MSA extends our deepest condolences. It is with deep sadness that we share with you all the passing of a beloved colleague, Carroll Tiernan. Carroll was a stalwart of the North Atlantic Chapter for many, many years, volunteering at every opportunity, serving as a chapter officer, and hosting a terrific chapter meeting at her beloved Audubon site in Maine. She headed up retail for the site as well as managing rental bookings, working year-round for the many successes the site could boast. She often paid her own way to the MSA conference in order to benefit from the networking and buying experiences as well as volunteering to assist MSA throughout the conference. A true professional, she offered knowledge, advice, and assistance at every turn, served up with a knowing smile. That smile—and everything else she brought to friends and colleagues—will be a genuine loss to all who knew and treasured her friendship.
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Rick Smith has been named director of retail for the new Imagine Museum opening in November in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is currently merchandising the 1,000 square feet of retail space with an eye toward telling the story of the Studio Glass Art Movement in the United States.
DONOR STORY:
Michael Guajardo, Director of Retail Operations, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts MSA says “Thank you” to a devoted supporter and valued member.
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ichael Guajardo has worked in retail his whole life; in fact, you could say it’s in his blood. “As a small child, I loved the summer—not for the typical things you think children would look forward to, but because I knew that my family and extended family would have our annual yard sale,” he says. “The thoughts in my head would swirl—everything from what the cash box kitty would look like to the placement of the articles being sold. I wanted to make sure that every tchotchke would shine!” Guajardo’s retail experience began with Musicland and has included Bombay Co. and Pier One Imports, which taught him a great deal about the business. “The job challenged me and provided me with excellent tools and knowledge,” he says. After moving back to Richmond, Virginia, in 2004, he took a brief (well, eight years) hiatus from retail, working at an interior design studio, which gave him a different sort of exposure to retail buying. However, in 2011, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond lured him back into a traditional retail setting—albeit a nonprofit one—and he jumped at the possibility. “The transition from ‘regular retail’ to nonprofit retail was challenging, yet fulfilling,” he says. “My background in retail gave me the experience and a different perspective, but I wanted and needed more information about the ‘museum world.’” A chance meeting with “a couple of wonderful store managers,” MSA members, at an international market piqued his interest with “their zest for retail and love of everything MSA. He soon attended his first meeting and was hooked. “The conference was filled with people who wanted to help each other, had tons of great Expo vendors, and was full of engaging educational sessions,” he says. “I knew it was an organization that I wanted to be part of! Over the last couple of years, I’ve developed some great vendor contacts and made some wonderful friendships with vendors and members.” These great relationships spurred his decision to sponsor the 2016 mid-Atlantic chapter meeting, as did a desire to share what he has built at the VMFA. “My team was also eager to share war stories and engage with the other members. Hosting the chapter meeting was a way for my whole team to be a part of the experience,” he says, adding, “I love when visitors share their surprise and exuberance about their visit. I wanted to share this amazing museum with all of them.” Guajardo says he supports MSA because of the great support he’s received and he tries to do the same for others. “If I’m not stepping up to the plate to offer support, whether it be my time, financially, or in some other form, then I’m not practicing what I preach and potentially letting others carry all of the load,” he says. “MSA was there for me as a newcomer to the nonprofit world. I want to be sure that it remains a vital source of knowledge, support, and fun for others!” To that end, Guajardo also serves on the Museum Store Advocacy committee, specifically the sponsorship committee, working on the new Museum Store Sunday initiative, which is focused on inviting communities to rediscover the museum stores and cultural institutions they know and love. “Supporting this initiative with my time and efforts is important to me, he says. “Supporting the campaign with a sponsorship is even more significant. I know that the monies will go to grow this new initiative, all around. It’s an evergreen investment that will help many for years to come.”
“MSA members are committed to excellence, determined to make a difference, and always willing to help in any way they can.” — Michael Guajardo
Support the Museum Store Association at museumstoreassociation.org/donate M U S E U M S TO R E
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BUYER’S GUIDE
Holiday Gifts Having a good mix of seasonally themed items along with everyday keepsake options in an eye catching display will increase incremental sales.”
THE SEASONS ARE CHANGING from summer to fall, and for all diligent museum store buyers and managers, this means the holidays are (virtually) upon us. So how best to determine what items might capture the fancy of visitors shopping for gifts in a few short months? The Lucuma Designs team says you cannot go wrong with time-tested best-sellers, things that have worked well for you in the past, but they add that this is also a good time to try some new items. They advise museum stores to leave plenty of room for displaying brand new gifts, so you can create that spark of surprise and excitement and bring your customers into the holiday spirit! It’s also key to remember that it’s not all about Christmas. “It is important for store managers to understand what occasions consumers are shopping for during the holiday season,” says Gail Broadright, director of sponsorships and family properties with Mars Wrigley Confectionary. Shoppers are looking for presents—Christmas, Hanukkah, hostess gifts—as well as items for themselves, including jewelry and accessories for the party whirlwind and more. “Research shows that shoppers are purchasing items to bake and gift with as well as items to be used for decorating and entertaining,” says Broadright. “Having a good mix of seasonally themed items along with everyday keepsake options in an eye catching display will increase incremental sales.” Another savvy suggestion from Lucuma Designs encompasses offerings that bring value beyond the ordinary and make the world more beautiful. Consumers want to support companies that are aligned with their own values, so a selection of fair trade gifts should be a consideration (check out FairTradeFederation.org for ideas). Keep in mind, however, that many artists make only limited quantities. The Lucuma Designs team recommends placing an order for the beginning of the season to get you started and another one for the middle. This builds flexibility into your purchase plans as you can evaluate your results before the second orders ships and add or substitute something depending on what your customers are buying.
EDC Publishing In this exciting book, Usborne Pop-Up Christmas, you’ll find pop-up snowflakes, a snowman that Santa’s elves have built, the elves’ workshop, Santa on his sleigh flying over a town, and a magnificent pop-up tree with lots of presents on Christmas morning. EDC Publishing (800) 475-4522
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edcpub.com See ad on page 5
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Broadright also reminds buyers to keep an eye on the big picture. “Monitoring overall shopping trends when making buying decisions is critical,” she says. “Understanding how shoppers use e-commerce, social media, and discount programs is vital information when planning for the holiday season.” Happy shopping!
SECTION TITLE HOLIDAY GIFTS
American Heritage® Chocolate American Heritage® Chocolate An authentic, historic line that celebrates chocolate’s role in the lives of Americans in the 1700s. All natural, with no preservatives, American Heritage® Chocolate is mildly spicy and slightly sweet, containing 63% cacao. American Heritage® Chocolate is made by Mars Chocolate North America. American Heritage® Chocolate (800) 800-7046
americanheritagechocolate.com See ad on the back cover
Lucuma Designs Our new collection of painted ceramic animal ornaments comes straight from the hands of our talented Peruvian artists. Inspired by the fun good-luck charms of the Andes, the bright colors will make you smile. Lucuma Designs (877) 858-2862
Solmate Socks Holiday socks for the whole family! Last year, customers were delighted with the introduction of the red and green mistletoe socks. With the new humbug socks for kids and babies, you can now dress the whole family in coordinating Christmas socks. Baby sets come as two pairs + one spare; kids sets come as one pair + one spare. Solmate Socks (802) 765-4177
socklady.com See ad on page 11
lucuma.com
AD INDEX Alucik.................................................7 American Heritage Chocolate........ BC BeadForLife..................................... 11 Boeing Store.................................. IFC Candied Plums...................................9 Celestial Buddies.............................13 Design Masters.................................5 EDC Publishing..................................5 Nativa...............................................15 Preservation Society of Newport County.........................9 Solmate Socks................................. 11 Thames & Hudson.............................3 TAM Retail.......................................20 Wild Attire........................................27
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