Apparel

A Fun Way to Enhance (From page 47)

signed images and wording that capture the essence of the Titanic with a modern look.

Other offerings include period pieces that could have been worn by passengers on the Titanic. They offer an extensive jewelry collection that includes iconic maritime symbols, replica Victorian styled pieces to items commemorating the Jack and Rose love story from James Cameron’s Titanic. Scarves are also for sale – some of which are custom designed with icons of the Titanic story, as well as replica vintage shawls. Gold, blue and white caps embroidered with the word ‘Captain’ have also been inspired by the museum’s exhibition.

In addition, they also carry a variety of embellished jackets and fleece outerwear apparel, all of which carry the Titanic logo, and which are a must buy for many of their customers.

Lois Warner is the executive buyer for all locations of the Titanic Museum Attractions.

According to Warner, they pride themselves on their mission and motivation: “We want our products to be unique from other museum stores that carry non-custom merchandise,” said Warner

They are invested in supporting their local economy, said Warner. They use local suppliers in both Tennessee and Missouri, including their main T-shirt screener located in Missouri, not far from their Branson location.

This type of merchandise – along with their wide range of offerings – brings in many shoppers from the local area, along with the tourists.

Their higher-priced apparel includes their jackets in the $40-$60 range and their fashion fleece in the $40 range.

It’s hard to identify only one best-selling item, said Warner, although she commented that their T-shirt sales are very strong. They’ve also seen tremendous gains in their jacket sales, including their branded windbreakers designed with a Maritime type feel. Most of their apparel comes in ladies, unisex, men’s and children’s, so they can accommodate all types of fit.

They are a heavy seasonal tourist operation – even though they’re open 364 days a year – so apparel sales fluctuate based on the season, said Warner. For instance, from Memorial to Labor Day, guests will want to buy something they can wear right away based on the weather.

At shows, she gravitates towards high quality craftsmanship and smaller unique companies that care about their product. As a result, numerous guests have remarked that they’ve never seen many of the products before entering the Titanic shops or website.

At their 800-square-feet gift shop, the National Videogame Museum sells a variety of T-shirts, hats and socks.

The T-shirts are all original designs: At present, they have seven different motifs available.

John Hardie , director, explained that the tees feature video game characters or themes that visitors can connect with. For instance, one shirt depicts a Jurassic Park theme, but features a Yoshi character as a dinosaur.

They source their socks and hats from local dis- tributors. These items feature characters like Sonic and Mario. Using these motifs helps to decrease the expense, while also giving visitors items that connect to the exhibitions.

Their top selling apparel item is their custom tees. They’re constantly running out of these items. Hardie believes these sell because of the cool, fun and nostalgic-feeling designs on them. You also can’t get these custom designs by dropping by a Walmart, expressed Hardie.

Shirts and hats are $19.99. “Most people who buy a T-shirt don’t feel like they’ve overpaid with that price,” said Hardie. ❖