Overlooking the Delaware River in Philadelphia, the Independence Seaport Museum has been interpreting the city’s story to visitors through its maritime roots since 1961. In recent years, that storytelling mission has taken on a refreshed view. Since the arrival of a new CEO four years ago, the museum has prioritized refreshing exhibits and rethinking visitor experience — a strategy that included the 2021 reopening of its gift shop.
“There was a store years and years ago, but previous management of the museum decided to close it,” says Public Engagement Manager Andrea Pollock.
Name-drop totes help customers bag souvenirs at Independence Seaport Museum.
Since reopening, Pollock says the store has been steadily growing its collection of souvenirs from just a few T-shirts and books to a curated selection of souvenirs from model ship kits to relevant plush, Philadelphia name-drop magnets and jewelry that all ties to the museum and its mission.
For many institutions like the Independence Seaport Museum, the museum store is critical for both added revenue and enhancing the visitor experience. Added revenue of any sort is especially important for museums today. According to the American Alliance of Museums’ annual report released in November 2025, many museums are facing financial challenges related to declining attendance, and about one-third of museums have had reductions in government grant or contract funding.
Amid ongoing financial pressures, museum stores are increasingly stepping in to offset revenue shortfalls while keeping visitors engaged. Pollock has also noted a rise in budget constraints across institutions, with some exploring options like outsourcing retail operations or downsizing their stores.
“People sometimes take for granted what the museum store brings to the museum,” she says. “It’s not just a little extra money — it’s helping with everything from name recognition to revenue to getting people excited about the museum and seeing cool products online or out and about.”
Museum retailers emphasize that a mix of custom souvenirs and attentive customer service turns their stores into must-stop shops, making them indispensable assets to their institutions.
Curated collectibles
Souvenirs tied to the museum exhibits are always big for Pollock and her team at the Independence Seaport Museum. At the museum, visitors can climb on the historic USS Olympia and USS Becuna. Pollock says the museum store features popular challenge coins tied to both the Olympia and the Becuna.
“The challenge coins are custom made and I’ve heard they’re really popular in different museums and national parks,” she adds.
Peoria Riverfront Museum guests can find patriotic books.
In Peoria, Illinois, the Peoria Riverfront Museum is devoted to a variety of disciplines, including art, history, science and achievement. Chief Strategy Officer Kate Schureman says she carefully organizes the store in a way to make sure all those different themes are represented throughout the store. One section is dedicated to classic art, another science souvenirs, one spot for natural history and then impulse buys tied to movies playing at the museum’s theater.
Knowing that many school groups will frequent the museum store, Schureman says plushies are regularly a top seller. She says both kids and adults enjoy the popular Celestial Buddies plush line that ties to the museum’s planetarium.
“They are a unique item that for our Peoria community, you can only get them here at the store,” she adds. “They’ve gone along well with a lot of our programming that we’ve done in the planetarium, so much so that families will come in to collect them.”
For aviation museums like the Frontiers of Flight in Dallas, almost everyone wants to take home an aviation or plane-themed souvenir. Store Manager Liz Meaders says model plane kits that remind customers of planes and aircraft they saw on display are often top picks.
“Some of our big names include Daron, which is known for their aviation model kits,” she says. “They have a massive catalog of Southwest and other airline models like American, Delta or Jet Blue. We’re constantly ordering from them, every month.”
Custom keepsakes
Eye-catching custom-made souvenirs also perform well in many museum stores. Meaders says the Frontiers of Flight store regularly sells its custom magnets that feature the museum’s iconic Vought V-173 Flying Pancake plane.
“Our Flying Pancake merch is big,” she says.
At the Independence Seaport Museum, visitors enjoy a Boat Nerd line of customized products the store made in collaboration with Custom Popcorn Products.
“One of our mugs that says, ‘Boat Nerd’ and has nautical flags is something that’s really popular,” explains Pollock.
An open layout helps customers easily find souvenirs at the Frontiers of Flight Museum store.
When Peoria County was celebrating its bicentennial in 2025, Schureman says she and her team saw an opportunity to offer souvenirs tied to the historic celebration. With the celebration’s theme dubbed the “Peoria County Bison-tennial,” Schureman says the museum store offered a lot of custom-made souvenirs featuring bison and logos tied to the milestone.
“We did a line working with Soft Stuff Creations as well as a couple of local artists,” she says. “We had a line of stickers, magnets and then mini bison plush with a T-shirt that had the Peoria County centennial logo on it. We are the only place that you could actually purchase those in the community, and we still have them because we’re running that campaign through 2026 as part of America250, so those have been very popular.”
Outside of the county’s bicentennial, Schureman says customized souvenirs with the Peoria name drop are big for the store.
She explains, “Aside from a small store at the airport, we’re really the only place in town that you can get Peoria-related merchandise.”
Field trip finds
As popular field trip destinations, many museum stores also make sure they have a strong selection of kid-friendly souvenirs.
A simple bag of rocks always goes over with the kids at the Peoria Riverfront Museum store as well as rock candy. Schureman adds that small plush toys like Palm Pals from Aurora and keychain plushies from Stuffed States USA also are a hit with the field trippers.
“Those are just a great size for kids and a great price point,” she explains of the Palm Pals and keychain plush from Stuffed States USA.
Meaders says the Frontiers of Flight Museum has about 72,000 students visiting every year, so she makes sure one corner of the store is just for the kids, filled with books, toys and plush.
“One big toy distributor we use is Wow Toys for the model kits and aviation-type toys,” she says. “Then on the educational side, we purchase from Harper Collins Publishing for a lot of our kids’ books.”
At the Independence Seaport Museum, Pollock says impulse items tend to do well with the kids.
“I’m always asking my museum friends, ‘What’s doing best for school groups?’ A lot of times, one kid gets into something and then they all do,” she explains.
Lately, she has noticed that locally made knitted plush toys are big with the kids. “We carry a lot of things for under $10 that do really well with the school groups,” she says. “But we also have things for kids that we know their families might buy for them, like building kits or larger stuffed animals.”
Leaving impressions
Sometimes a store refresh helps to encourage more museum visitors to pop into the store. In April 2025, the Frontiers of Flight Museum remodeled its store to make it more inviting.
The store also adopted a new motto: Flight Mode On.
“Like when you’re on a plane, you turn flight mode on your phone to not worry about distraction. That’s what we want this space to be — a place to relax and enjoy,” Meaders says.
Helping visitors take home something that pieces together stories seen and experienced in the museum is also a goal for Pollock and her team at the Independence Seaport Museum.
“Museums are really important in telling the history of society,” she says. “Being able to connect the products we sell to that mission, to that history, is really special.”
