Tying Sales to Sea-Themed Gifts

Nautical Merchandise at Maritime Museums

Every March on the Annapolis, Md., waterfront, there’s an annual oyster roast and sock burning. You heard that right: Over a thousand people gather to watch local sailors burn their worn-out winter socks in a tradition that kicks off spring.

At the Annapolis Maritime Museum, Operations Coordinator Tracey Neikirk saw a retail opportunity. “We’ve worked with a designer to create our own two sock designs with oysters and crabs, a nice quality sock,” she explained. The socks sold briskly all winter, Neikerk said, and were expected to do even better as sock burning fever ratcheted up.

At maritime museums around the country, the winning formula is merchandise with a local touch. “We focus on the history and ecology of our working waterfront, educating people about the heritage of the area,” Neikirk explained of the 300-square-foot store’s mission. The museum gets plenty of visitors from the town’s downtown and its dock, as well as a park with popular summer concerts. And locals “are always looking to pick up something that relates to our area,” Neikirk added.

Souvenir books are a perennial bestseller. So are locally made candles in vintage-style containers reminiscent of the oyster cans once produced in the museum building, a former oyster processing facility. “It’s a unique souvenir for us,” noted Neikerk. Also popular are keychains and bottle stoppers molded from oyster shells by a Nova Scotia company, and wine glasses etched with the local skipjack (a boat used for oyster harvesting).

Ninety percent of guests at the Columbia Maritime Museum in Astoria, Ore., have traveled at least 90 miles to get there, according to Store Manager Blue Anderson . Many are river cruise passengers seek- ing gifts for the people who took care of their pets or plants while they were away. “We really keep size and weight in mind when selecting merchandise,” observed Anderson. “And for those who don’t want to fill up a suitcase or the car, we offer shipping.”

At the Columbia gift shop, vacationers snap up boatswain whistles, map magnifiers, antique style compasses, spy glasses and globes from the Authentic Models reproductions line. “We also have a line of water-resistant outerwear that we sell year-round,” said Anderson. Those jackets sell particularly well during the summer months, when lightly dressed tourists are Continued on page 66