Themed, Local, and Handcrafted Jewelry

at Zoo Shops

Animal-themed, hand-crafted, and locally sourced jewelry are the themes at zoo and aquarium shops in variety of locations nationwide. For this article, zoo staff members described their top sellers in both high-end and more inexpensive categories, and the best ways to sell more jewelry items.

At Zoo Boise in Boise, Idaho, the Zootique Gift Shop stresses a wildlife-oriented and environmental theme. Warehouse Manager Delaney Vatcher said display is the most important way to sell more jewelry items.

“Generally, it is display that’s most important for jewelry sales. Some of our jewelry suppliers give us displays that do a great job pushing the product. But it is all about having jewelry in a convenient location that’s easy to see and displayed in a way to draw the eye.” She said that is accomplished with crossmerchandising and special displays occasionally, but that inexpensive items move so quickly the store cannot keep up with creating that type of presentation. “With our more expensive items in cases, we can create more elaborate displays,” she noted. “In the past, we’ve featured items from a region in Mozambique, Africa, in a display that included hand-carved earrings and a variety of products from the region. The zoo has donated a lot of resources and time to the area, and we have a relationship with Gorongosa National Park.” That link makes for an attractive and involving display.

giraffes, wolves, red pandas, lions and tigers, especially pieces that show the animals that are at the zoo themselves.”

The Santa Barbara Zoo in Santa Barbara, Calif., holds mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and a small aquarium. The facility’s retail director, Ross Beardsley , explained that at present, the 1,200-squarefoot gift shop remains closed, while outdoor, tented space – which the zoo plans to keep long-term in addition to the indoor shop – has created a pandemic-safe environment. When the shop is open, as it soon will be, he described the primary focus on jewelry as oriented more toward kids than adults, with offerings that are more inexpensive than high end.

“Generally, it is display that’s most important for jewelry sales. Some of our jewelry suppliers give us displays that do a great job pushing the product. But it is all about having jewelry in a convenient location that’s easy to see and displayed in a way to draw the eye.”

- Delaney Vatcher, Zoo Boise, Boise, Idaho

Overall, inexpensive jewelry typically does better for the shop than more expensive items, Vatcher related. “We have the collections of hand-carved wood jewelry from Africa that does well on the higher-end side, but mostly items around the $10 mark, necklaces and bracelets, do the best.” She described these items as “pretty much all animal themed, including turtles,

“We don’t sell fine jewelry like art museums do, with collections in cases by the cash wrap. We have a limited amount of jewelry in cases by the cash wrap, but it doesn’t really sell for us.” There is an exception to that, however. “Highend rings from R. S. Covenant do very well. They have an amazing display shaped like a pyramid on little steps. The displays really sell it,” he asserted. “The display sits on top of little drawers that the cashier can access. We carry one piece of each style, and each can be changed out if it doesn’t sell. They’re beautifully

Continued on page 122 made pieces.” The brand was added because the zoo does a lot of weddings on the property, and nicer zoothemed gifts were requested often for bridesmaid gifts. “The line has zoo, aquarium, and other themed rings.”

Overall, he said, the zoo store does well with more inexpensive items, such as those from World End Imports, which he described as the store’s favorite line. “They have a rep who comes and does our wall displays and takes an inventory count, so it is basically a turn-key operation for me.” When the store is open, Beardsley said keeping the large eight-by-four-foot wall space used for this jewelry full and replenished leads to strong sales. “Our rep usually comes up from Los Angeles every three weeks. We moved from a fourway rack to the wall display because you can see the whole display of jewelry at once, from the more expensive items for older kids and adults at the top to lower space for less expensive items aimed at younger kids on the bottom. This has done really well,” he noted. That said, the always-busy zoo store did better with jewelry five years ago than more recently, he explained, so he will be keeping an eye on that category.

Where sales continue to thrive are in mood rings, which Beardsley described as “selling all day long, placed next to the register.” For World End Imports “The price point is generally $6.95 to $19.95, with a medium price of around $9.95 selling very well. All the pieces are zoo animal-related.” The wall display is located near the register both to draw customer attention and, as he explained “not so we can watch it, but so the customer thinks we are watching it.”

In Salisbury, Md., at the Salisbury Zoo, located on the beach-close Delmarva Peninsula, Gift Shop Buyer and Development and Marketing Associate Mary Seeman sometimes uses social media to display jewelry items, but primarily relies on display near the counter and on individual racks. “We display our Sienna Sky brand on its own rack, while World End Imports and