Where Souvenirs Sell

Name-Dropped and Custom Products at Zoos

Despite, or maybe because of, the pandemic, purchasing name-dropped and custom products at zoos is a part of the fun for shoppers eager to see the animals and bring home a souvenir or gift.

At the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, N.D., Public Program Manager Andrea Tronson also manages the gift shop. Her store was closed for a portion of the pandemic but is open again now, during these slower winter months. “Despite that, I would say our name-dropped items sold better than ever. I have a few leftovers from last year, but very few. People were super eager to support the zoo when we reopened.” She speculated that “They wanted to get out and visit when they hadn’t been out for months, and their enthusiasm supported us.”

Her strategy for ordering name-dropped and custom products in 2021 is, as always to “order the bare minimum, and then if an item does well, I put in a pre-order for the following year.” To find the right items for her shop, she said, “It’s always somewhat of a gamble to pick a new name-dropped product, but I look at the high sellers from the year before, and I also do some research into new products. We don’t have a set strategy.”

In Austin, Texas, Kim Sessions , director of administration and the gift shop buyer at the Austin Zoo, related that the zoo closed from the Saturday before spring break until May 31. “We missed our busy Memorial Day weekend, too. So, just because business is slow our per cap is down, but our name-dropped plush always outsells any other product, and that stayed true.” Overall, she said, name-dropped sales were likely “about the same as any year but at a lower percentage. Spring break is normally our busiest week of year and so we had ordered a ton of product. Since we were closed then, we are still selling that same product that normally would have sold in the three-month period we were closed.”

In 2021, Sessions is changing her ordering regimen to some extent. “We are not taking advantage of some of the incentives offered when you order a big dollar amount of items and qualify for free shipping. We are by-passing that and ordering only as needed, and in smaller dollar amounts as well.”

When it comes to picking new items to name-drop, she focuses on new animal arrivals at the zoo. “We have had a few new rescues come in while we were closed, including the white tiger which is unusual and very popular, and a zebra

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