This summer, Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown, Pennsylvania, debuted a new welcome center that includes a gift shop, veterinary health center and administrative offices. The nearly 32,000-square-foot building opened to zoo members June 24 and to the public June 27.
Jamie Sheard, associate director for guest services at Elmwood Park Zoo, says the new welcome center is part of the zoo’s master development plan to expand the zoo and its facilities.
“We are developed to 16 acres at the zoo, but we sit on over 40 acres,” he says. “Over 10 years, we plan to expand in every direction to grow. The new welcome center is the kick-starter to get our master plan going. We needed our veterinary areas to expand.”
Sheard notes that the zoo began working on details for the new welcome center and expansion plans in 2018, with a goal to finalize expansions over a 15-year time span. He adds that a $42 million private donation helped to speed up expansion plans to a 10-year time span and finish the welcome center quicker than anticipated.
“We broke ground on the welcome center last April and opened this June,” he says. “So in 14 months, the whole building was built and ready for operation. It was a quick timeline.”
Sheard adds that this year marks the zoo’s 100th anniversary. “Timing for the new welcome center and gift shop was perfect since the zoo is celebrating its 100th anniversary.”
Prior to the debut of the new welcome center, Elmwood Park Zoo featured a 1,000-square-foot gift shop. With the new facility, Sheard says the gift shop has quadrupled in size to about 4,000 square feet.
“We’re really excited about it,” he says. “We’re able to merchandise better than before and we were able to bring in new fixtures and make the space better tie into themes at the zoo.”
The zoo’s gift shop always featured plenty of plush, with Sheard noting that plush is a big portion of the shop’s sales. With the expansion, the gift shop can offer an even wider selection of plush to choose from. He says the gift shop also expanded its apparel and book offerings.
The shop also features plenty of merchandise tied to the zoo’s mission and branding surrounding conservation and sustainability.
“We worked closely with the conservation team at the zoo to make sustainable choices with merchandise,” Sheard says. “We’ve sourced some plush made of recycled material, and even some apparel is made of recycled material.”
The shop has also shifted to only offering sustainable, reusable bags for $1 each. Sheard says the gift shop has two reusable bag options: one featuring a red panda, the other a giraffe. He adds that the zoo worked with Bags by Bruno of Wildwood, New Jersey, to design the new reusable bags.
Elmwood Park Zoo received certification from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards as a Certified Autism Center in 2018, which is awarded to organizations that undergo training and review processes in order to better serve individuals with autism or other sensory needs. To help cater to that audience, Sheard says the new gift shop even incorporates vinyl wallpaper textured like different animal scales and hairs to give customers a sensory experience as they browse the shop.
“Having a sensory-inclusive experience that is meant for kids to come in and touch the space and feel connected to nature was something we wanted to see and a goal for the new shop,” he says.
Sheard adds that the zoo has received positive feedback so far on the new gift shop.
“When we designed the shop, we wanted to make sure the shopping experience enhanced the zoo experience,” he explains. “The new shop’s layout has a really good feel to where you don’t feel like you’re in a shop, but rather it’s an extension of the zoo.”
