[BCMA] Operating a Museum Gift Shop

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv]

Hello everyone,

Our Board of Directors recently decided that we would open up a small gift
shop to help add some additional revenue. Currently all our inventory
includes older books and some older t-shirts that the previous gift shop
used 5-6 years ago. We share a building with our local Tourism Discovery
Centre, and they operate a large gift shop and we are trying to avoid
duplicate products/ limit competition as we start out.

Our question is, what items do other museums or heritage sites find to be
the most profitable in their gift shops? We've done some online research to
see what products some other museums sell, but we have no way of knowing
what is a worthy investment of our funds. We want to order t-shirts and
tote bags, but we are a little hesitant when the average cost to do a
t-shirt with full color comes in around $18, and our initial thought was to
keep shirts around $25-$30. Is this a fair price and should we adjust our
potential selling costs, or is it on the high end?

We appreciate any feedback that people are willing to share.

Sincerely,
Katie Edinger

-- 

*Katie Edinger*
*Administrative Assistant*

*Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin*
*1660B Broadway Ave S. Williams Lake, BC*
*V2G 2W4, **250.392.7404*
*www.cowboy-museum.com <http://www.cowboy-museum.com/>*

*Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin is grateful to be located on the territory
of the St'exelcemc (Williams Lake First Nation) of the Secwépemc Nation.*
*Serving on the traditional territory of the Secwépemc, Tŝilhqot'in, and
Dakelh Nations.*
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