Souvenirs and Gifts Section

Trends in Souvenirs and Gifts (From page 58)

As usual, for the summer, Parent looks for souvenirs that will appeal to the elementary school crowd since school is out for them. This summer, he would like to up the ante in book offerings. In particular, he intends on branching out in books involving specific species and with those with greater educational value.

To cater to adult visitors, Parent is developing the presentation of their animal paintings. The gift shop sells paintings where they walk their animals across a blank canvas in non-toxic colored paint. They sell these as a guest experience where the guest is present for the creation of the painting, or sell them in the gift shop. Previously, just repositioning those paintings on a gift shop wall caused an amazing boost in sales. So, this summer, he will work with different framing techniques, sizing and colorations, as these paintings have been instant sellers with adults in the past.

Parent likes to keep gift shop offerings at the eye level of his target customer. He also uses spotlights to highlight displays in the Sanctuary’s 800-square-feet of sales space. For instance, on a wall containing approximately 30 variations of animal crossing signs, using a spotlight draws visitors’ eyes to that display.

The Luray Caverns located just west of Luray, Va., house three gift shops located throughout the property, each with their own mix of products, according to Shawn Painter , retail operations manager at Luray.

In terms of custom, name-dropped souvenirs, Tshirts and apparel is a top category, Painter said.

“We offer a wide selection of tees, outerwear, and sweatshirts for all ages and many designs with caverns images,” Painter said.

Their top-selling item visitors also tote home as souvenirs are all things rocks, gemstone and mineralrelated, Painter said.

“This is by far our biggest selling category. It’s just natural to pick up something rock-related to take home as a souvenir from a cave,” Painter said.

They’ll maintain a product mix similar to previous summers, including mugs, glassware, keyrings, magnets and so on, Painter said. Any changes will mostly consist of alterations in style and color according to current trends, Painter said.

“We find items at eye-level get the most attention,” said Painter. However, since every item can’t always be displayed at eye level, she also likes to move the merchandise that goes unnoticed to new locations. ❖