Souvenirs, Gifts & Novelties Reader Testimonials
“We always enjoy Souvenirs, Gifts & Novelties magazine and are happy to share our stories. I learn something from it every time I read it and share it with our gift shop staff regularly.”
Beth Rich,
Zoo Superintendent,
Tautphaus Park Zoo,
Idaho Falls, ID
“Thanks for your magazine. I really enjoy it and learn from it monthly.”
Susan Michener,
Admission/Gift Shop Manager,
The Montgomery Zoo,
Montgomery, Ala.
“Sincere thanks for writing about us and our tea room. It meant the world to us. And we continue to be big fans of your magazine. Thank you for all the great resources you have put at our fingertips, making us truly understand that custom sells.”
Jacqueline Gillam Fairchild,
Her Majesty's English Tea Room,
Dunlap, Ill
“Thank you for your wonderful magazine. I love getting it and we do a lot of business with your advertisers. I know that their marketing money is limited, so I make sure to mention that I saw them in Souvenirs, Gifts & Novelties magazine. Win-Win-Win. Everybody’s happy!”
Steve Fegley,
Director of Retail Operations,
the Science Museum of Minnesota
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Ellie Lee, programs and events coordinator, Wonder Works Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, S.C., photographed with toys. “It’s important to have plush items displayed at eye-level, at hand-level, for kids. You have to give them a chance to pick them up, to hold them,” the store’s manager said. |
ccording to Christine Osborne, the secret to getting plush into the hands of children is precisely that. “You have to literally get it into their hands,” said Osborne, manager at Wonder Works toys in Charleston, S.C. “It’s important to have plush items displayed at eye-level, at hand-level, for kids. You have to give them a chance to pick them up, to hold them.
In the delicate child/parent balancing act required in toy sales, winning the child over is usually the first - and easiest - step. Osborne said when selling plush, step two involves overriding a parent’s natural instinct to avoid these items whenever possible.
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ne of the challenges museum gift shops face is getting consumers to take them seriously - to get them to think of their retail spaces as more than just novelties or places to stop on the way out. Just as these stores have unique products, they utilize unique marketing tricks to lure customers in and keep them coming back.
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Amy Scott, visitor experience manager, The Cache, Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, Colo. “A lot of people look for games because they’re a family activity,” Scott said.
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Not letting its four walls solely define it has worked effectively for the Gift Shop at ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington, Vt. “What we do, as well, is place carts throughout the science center with lots of hands-on merchandise on them for families to try out,” said Tina Lecours, director of guest services and private events at the facility. “We’ll include laminated instruction sheets and kids will sit down with their parents and say ’Oh, let’s play with these.’ Once they play with it, a lot of times they’ll come down and ask for it in the gift shop.” This marketing ploy has worked well for sales of items like Power Clix Magnetic 3-D Building Systems and Keva Plank Sets inside ECHO’s 1,200-square-foot retail space.
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