Museum Store Sunday fills shopping gap no one knew they had

The Penn Museum in Philadelphia has options for everyone on your gift list. (Photo: Penn Museum)

Trend News To Day in Google - As shoppers dash through this holiday season and the rush of "days" — Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday — another day has cropped up to tap consumers' wallets.

Museums and other cultural institutions are stepping up to offer shoppers unique options this week with Museum Store Sunday.

The day was created in conjunction with the Museum Store Association to educate the public about the role museum stores play in funding these cultural institutions and to offer a new option for gift giving. The day’s motto is “Be a Patron,” which urges museum-goers to shop in support of museums and their missions. 

So far, more than 600 museums from three continents, 10 countries, and all 50 states and D.C. are slated to be part of Museum Store Sunday. They will offer special events, promotions and other experiences such as tea tastings and jazz concerts. Museum stores offer a wide range of items, artwork and books to textiles and jewelry. 

"You never know what you're going to find at a museum store. Sometimes you'll find a rare treasure as I did," says Steve Bryant, who found the Complete Works of Langston Hughes, at the Detroit Institute of Art's museum store, which is participating in this first-ever event.

Julie Steiner, president of the Museum Store Association and director of retail operations at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia says museum visitation is about 30% higher on the Sunday after Thanksgiving than on a usual Sunday because of the holidays.

"It’s typically a busy weekend for us, as many people are visiting their families during the holiday week and want to both spend time with them doing fun things, and, if they live in Philadelphia, to show off their city to their guests. Museums are a great way to do both, and adding in a retail component lets them include some holiday shopping as well," Steiner says.

The Thanksgiving shopping weekend is one of the busiest of the year for museum shops, says Stuart Hata, head of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco's stores.

"Traffic to the museums during the holiday weekend increases by 30% to 40% over the previous weekend," he says. In San Francisco, that's more than 30,000 visitors total to the museums between Friday and Sunday.

"Not only do we offer a very special merchandise selection that you won’t find anywhere else, but we also offer a very civilized shopping experience," says Karen McNeely of the Milwaukee Art Museum. "It’s less harried, less rushed." 

This new day is expected to boost museum revenue while providing quieter shopping than the malls.

"Not only do we offer a very special merchandise selection that you won’t find anywhere else, but we also offer a very civilized shopping experience," says Karen McNeely of the Milwaukee Art Museum. "It’s less harried, less rushed." 

Source: usatoday.com