Getting Your Creative Juices Flowing Museum Store Staff Discuss Making Home Décor and Gift Displays

By Karen Appold

When creating home décor and gift displays, Ginger Newman Askew, events/museum store manager at the Historic Sotterley Museum Store in Hollywood, Md., aims to tell a story for the audience she wants to reach. “I try to produce vignettes that are not only attractive for visitors to look at, but also entice them to want to explore,” she said. “I hope our displays encourage guests to learn more, see more, smell more, or touch more, and hopefully, buy more.”

Additionally, Newman Askew said displays and the store itself must be neat, clean, and accessible to customers in order to ensure a positive shopping experience.

Kristen Kreider , director of retail and customer experience at the National Museum of American Jewish History Museum Store in Philadelphia, tries to create eye-catching, layered displays that are approachable and engaging. “We might group by a specific holiday, color, or subject matter, and incorporate merchandise that may not be within the exact theme of a display but appeal to the person viewing it,” she said. For example, a Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg themed display may include books on other famous attorneys, opera (one of her passions), or Vote themed products. For home décor, displays imitate vignettes that might be found in a home such as wine glasses next to a cheeseboard and ice bucket, or a

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