Special Expanded Zoo and Aquarium Section

Tips to Get Sales (From page 88)

impulse toys, like stress balls, are a close second, Girardy affirmed.

“Just having our name on anything helps sell much better,” observed Anita Coogan , retail manager for the Zoofari gift shop at the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Sanford. Located in a converted barn — and surrounded by a barnyard filled with chickens, alpacas and other fauna — the Zoofari gift shop does a brisk business in branded pens, drinkware, magnets and apparel, especially T-shirts.

But the top-selling items by far are the plush animals, most of which wear name-dropped zoo T-shirts or vests. “Ever since COVID, stuffed animals have been our number one,” said Coogan. “It’s a comfort thing. Plush was already strong, but now it’s even more so.”

After closing for nearly a month in October due to Hurricane Ian, the Zoofari gift shop reopened in November and could hardly keep stuffed animals in stock. The customer favorites were any kind of cats, from leopards to cheetahs, as well as the perennially popular snakes. Giraffes are also a hit with kids who’ve just come from feeding them at the zoo’s interactive exhibit.

“We just can’t keep these items in stock,” Coogan said. Plush is also the top seller at the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville, Texas. “Aurora items are a hit, and little items like plastic cats are huge from Wild Republic,”said Gift Shop Manager Angela Tull , referring to several popular plush brands. Logo magnets, postcards and Tshirts are also winners for the store.

The Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center in Divide, Colo., has success with a wide array of name-dropped products at its 3,000-square-foot retail outlet. Gift Shop Manager Catherine Crothers sells lots of hats, shot glasses, lapel pins, T-shirts, picture frames and wine bottle stoppers.

Wolf-related items, like wolf whistles and plush wolves, are, of course, always popular. Around Christmas, so are hand-painted ornaments, which dangle from name-dropped ribbons.

Perhaps the most surprising name-dropped success is a walking stick medallion bearing the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center logo. “We’d had a lot of requests for those,” recalled Crothers. “Then my colleague called from a trade show and said, ‘Guess what I found?’ So I ordered 200 of them.” ❖