From bikinis to cat bowls: how museum gift shops became shopping centers | Museums

First it came to a bookstore. So you love the coffee shop. Now there’s a new frontier when it comes to upping your sales game: museums.

Instead of art postcards and coffee table books, now you can find everything from T-shirts to coffee mugs “when you come out of the gift shop”, as museums look to trade-maxx to raise money.

Instead of going out, these new products are turning museum gift shops into great entry points. The subsequent shift from fashion to home goods means that people are beginning to treat them as a place to shop themselves, reflecting a shift from traditional to traditional retailers.

A new exhibition exploring Marilyn Monroe’s legacy opens in London National Portrait Gallery (NPG) next week, featuring merchandise including cat-eye sunglasses similar to those worn in 1950s Hollywood, a subtle lipstick inspired by her signature red lipstick and a baseball cap with her signature print.

Ed Simpson, director of acquisitions and development at NPG, said he started developing Monroe 18 months ago. Although visitors will still find posters and cards with pictures of the actors to mark their experience, Simpson added that the wide selection of items is “a great way to interpret the show without being too literal”.

At the Tate Modern in London there are cat bowls and cat-shaped hair sticks for cat writing The Tracey Emin Show. Pa The V&A in Dundeebottles of hairspray and golden scissors nod to the celebratory catwalk show.

At the exhibition of artists and filmmakers The work of Dick Jewella bikini featuring images from her Erotic Armpits collage is for sale. Visitors to Schiaparelli blockbuster at the London V & A, meanwhile, he can pick up a bag with a trompe l’oeil of the jumper shown in the show.

British artist Rose Wylie’s recent Royal Academy award ended with a number of commercials, including a football scarf, while Lucian Freud’s NPG festival included an “Everything is a picture” T-shirt designed by his fashion designer daughter Bella Freud.

Simpson said he and his team try to avoid “just slapping a picture on something”. In fact, something like an autographed baseball cap gives “a kind of ‘if you know, you know’ admission to the show”.

Bridget Dalton, a social and cultural analyst at Truth Consulting, described the museum’s commercialization as “the social development of bourgeois culture”.

For him, it is “triple fun” to have a culture “that represents your interests”, public support to the organization “like a museum” and a fashion model that allows the wearer to express the culture beyond the show, he said.

This marketing strategy also appeals to a younger crowd. On TikTok, gen Z posts videos of “museum hauls” where they talk about shopping. The Design Museum’s exhibition of Wes Anderson’s works, which includes gray tea bags in a box that depicts Mendl’s pink box in his 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel, and a T-shirt with the Asteroid City alien logo, are very popular. For many, seeing one of these videos will entice them to book their own ticket

Anna Chase-Roberts, the V&A’s fashion buyer, said that rather than being a “cool add-on”, the product is what customers expect and ask for.

With pieces from £3 for magnets to three pieces of jewelry, it’s also a great fundraiser for the museum.

In his own annual report last yearThe V&A revealed that the sale, including the handbags and button badges that accompanied the Taylor Swift show, raised $1.1m in just seven weeks of trading – its highest level on record.

The new V&A East Museum in Stratford has two shops, the main 1500ft shop and a smaller shop dedicated to its main exhibitions, currently selling grime spinner necklaces and “Don’t scratch my soda” T-shirts as part of the opening. The Music is Black show.

Chase-Roberts said bookings at its new stores were “years in the making”. The desire to support new talent combined with the demand for limited pieces led them to collaborate with emerging designers, such as ceramic artists living in London’s Clink Street. A £380 “Rave Culture” vase sits alongside £8 neon socks.

Even a Daunt Books tote bag or T-shirt to mention the name of the author of the book has been impressive, Dalton believes the new product is only for adults. This type of cultural identity means you’re “participating” in the world, he said.

“You’re like a gym. You can put your work in, show off your knowledge, your intelligence and your unique skills. That’s really powerful.”