Museum Store Sunday, which celebrates shopping and patronizing museum stores around the world, will take place on Sunday, November 27 this year.
The signature advocacy event – founded by the Museum Store Association in 2017 to stimulate visitors to support museums and other cultural nonprofits – has grown to include museums representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 25 countries and five continents.
The first five years of Museum Store Sunday were a success for many of the participants, notes the association. For example, during Museum Store Sunday 2018 versus the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2017, participants reported:
•In store average: gross sales increased by 47%; net sales by 42%
•Web sales average: gross sales increased by 126%; net sales by 79%
•Museum visitors increased by 11%
•Store visitors increased by 35%
•Transactions increased by 21%
“When you shop cultural institutions, you are not only strengthening the institutions’ programs, you are also supporting local artisans and vendors that those stores feature” says Elizabeth Price, executive director of the Museum Store Association(MSA). “The impact that these purchases have reach far beyond the joy felt by the gift recipient; they support a whole community of small businesses and help enrich the cultural offerings in the localities they serve.”
During Museum Store Sunday, many stores will offer discounts, special in-store or virtual events, gifts with purchase, and online shopping. The MSA has made it easy for consumers to find participating museum stores at https://museumstoresunday.org/find-a-store, as well as those retailers with online stores at https://museumstoresunday.org/online-store-locator (more than 68 percent of cultural institutions now have online stores, according to the MSA 2022 Retail Industry Report).
Museum stores can garner more details on signing up to participate, registering for the online directory, accessing the MSA’s marketing tool kit and more, by clicking here.
