Smoky Mountain Gift Show Section

Best Mementos (From page 80) popular for them, a practical souvenir.” Also popular are magnets, pens, and pencils. “The price point is so good on those items that people will come in and buy five pencils or five magnets at a time because they are so inexpensive,” Decker laughed.

At the Happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose, Calif., Retail Operations Manager Nick Schmanek , related that the gift shop’s main name-dropped souvenirs are T-shirts

“The [name-dropped] sippy cups are the most popular, because our main market is stroller moms with young kids, local moms. The cups are very popular for them, a practical souvenir.” and children’s shirts in all sizes. “The apparel is printed with our name, and in the past, we have also had apparel with our logo as well as our name. The only plush we have that is name dropped is Danny the Dragon, the mascot for the park and zoo.” Name dropped items, though limited in type all do very well, he said. “We are almost sold out of our Danny the Dragon, we sold 500 of them in the last year.”

Choosing souvenirs to name-drop is a process that Schmanek uses to make recommendations for new name-dropped items, but in which he does not decide on the final selection. “We have a buying team who works remotely with Happy Hollow. They agree to carry the products that they like, and while I can suggest items, they make the final decision. Apparel is a big success in terms of name-dropping, for a number of different reasons. It’s one of the easiest kinds of items to name-drop, and it is free advertising for us when people wear the clothing.”

For zoos and aquariums of all sizes and budgets, it’s clear that name-dropped items sell well at gift shops. While apparel is a clear winner, due to the easy of namedropping and price points on the customized clothing, other unique items such as sippy cups at the Santa Ana Zoo and coasters at Wildlife Safari are big hits, too. The biggest takeaway: guests still love souvenirs that help them keep memories of their zoo and aquarium visits alive. ❖