Pin it. Patch it. Pack it.

Before Gloria Chupp was selling Ohio Statehouse lapel pins and astronaut stickers, she was selling all kinds of bling. The manager of the Statehouse Museum Shop in Columbus, Ohio, previously worked as a lead at a Saks Fifth Avenue shop.

Today, her customers at the Statehouse Museum Shop range from fourth graders on school trips and state legislators to tourists from around the world. Some big names come through the door, too. On her second day on the job, the prime minister of Ireland walked through the door.

Different shoppers. Different budgets. One thing many have in common: They want a little something that says, “I was here.”

Stickers at the Statehouse Museum Shop feature Columbus landmarks, the Ohio Statehouse and the state itself. Chupp says an Ohioans in Space collection taps into the state’s astronaut connections, while lapel pins depict the Statehouse, Ohio flag, state seal, gavels and scales of justice. Girl Scout troops pick up patches to mark their visit.

Small, affordable and easy to pack, stickers, pins and patches are giving destination retailers plenty of ways to turn a place, experience or even favorite animal into a souvenir that travels.

Stick with the story

Wholesalers are feeling retailers’ enthusiasm for the category. Arden Darnell, sales manager for Tacoma, Washington-based Stickers Northwest, says the company’s classic 3¼-inch die-cut vinyl sticker remains the company’s bestseller.

But in January, it introduced Mini Trios, collections of three stickers each slightly larger than a quarter. The smaller format quickly caught on, and the company now offers 75 collections.

Rose Schneider, president of Colorado-based The Grasshopper’s Mermaid, is seeing the same appetite for smaller sizes.

“Mini stickers have been really popular this year,” she says.

Schneider started the company in 2017 with two sticker designs and a binder of artwork she carried from store to store. Today, the company offers thousands of designs to customers including cruise accounts, zoos, aquariums, and state and national parks.

Despite a crowded market, stickers maintain a fundamental advantage: They’re an inexpensive, emotional purchase. A child with $5 to spend in a museum shop can buy one. Adults can toss a couple into their purchase without thinking too hard about the price.

“Stickers are the modern-day postcard,” Schneider says. “They show where you’ve been.”

Make it theirs

Adding a place name can make that little purchase even more powerful.

At Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s gift shop, Heather Hendricks, retail operations manager, sees that firsthand. Both the Cleveland skyline and Cleveland-script stickers are popular with tourists, while animal designs give visitors another way to remember what they saw.

The zoo’s red pandas lead animal merchandise sales, followed by snow leopards, elephants, giraffes, gorillas and tigers. And babies? Those are hard to resist.

That specificity extends to merchandising. A large pin spinner greets shoppers near the front of the store, while pins are also worked into feature tables telling the stories of particular animals, often alongside coordinating magnets and keychains.

Stickers get prominent treatment, too. The zoo recently added a second spinner, and water bottles displayed nearby help shoppers picture where those stickers might land.

Event-specific designs take personalization another step. Stickers commemorating experiences such as the Asian Lantern Festival and Wild Winter Lights give guests a souvenir of not only where they went but what they did there.

Go hyperlocal

Sometimes the more specific the souvenir, the better the story.

At The Mill at Ward Cove, a 60,000-square-foot retail operation seven miles north of downtown Ketchikan, Alaska, Director of Retail Richard Brensinger sees travelers collecting pieces of Alaska that can go wherever they go next.

Stickers have a substantial presence at major checkout areas. Pins and patches turn bears, whales, hiking boots and mountain goats into portable pieces of Alaska.

Then there’s the banana slug.

The creatures are common in the rainforest surrounding Ketchikan and have a quirky local following that includes banana slug races. Visitors who have researched the area sometimes arrive already looking for them.

The Mill at Ward Cove carries banana slugs on stickers, patches and more. “They are cool and hip this year,” Brensinger says.

Know what travels

Broader cultural interests can work, too. At Stickers Northwest, 18 of the company’s top 20 designs are not tied to a specific region.

Pets are particularly strong, with multiple cat and dog designs among the bestsellers. Outdoor critters have staying power, while Darnell says the houseplant craze of several years ago has cooled. The company watches viral trends but doesn’t recommend chasing every fleeting craze. A raccoon, possum and skunk design bearing the message “Respect the Locals,” for example, can sell across markets without relying on an internet moment.

Schneider takes a similarly tailored approach, working with retailers rather than assuming the same assortment will perform everywhere. For a zoo or aquarium, that could mean a new animal, exhibit or baby. A mountain shop might lean into regional wildlife and scenery. The goal is giving shoppers something that feels connected to the experience they just had.

“We don’t see the same stickers from store to store,” she says.

Collect the experience

Stickers may command plenty of attention, but pins and patches bring their own collecting traditions.

At Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, pins outperform keychains, Hendricks says. Zoo volunteers collect them on their lanyards, while visitors add them to hats and other gear.

Patches have become more niche, but certain audiences remain loyal. The zoo’s annual Girl Scout Day is its strongest day for patch sales. Chupp sees the same behavior at the Statehouse Museum Shop, where visiting scout troops collect patches as markers of the places they’ve explored.

For The Mill at Ward Cove, pins land on hats and patches on luggage. Brensinger’s own suitcase is covered in stickers from his travels.

“It’s like a badge of honor,” he says.