An ongoing financial slump facing Great Britain has not stopped those with an eye for visual media. In fact, museums across the UK are currently enjoying a landmark moment when sales reports of museum gift shops have generated a £100 million turnout.
An ongoing financial slump facing Great Britain has not stopped those with an eye for visual media. In fact, museums across the UK are currently enjoying a landmark moment when sales reports of museum gift shops have generated a £100 million turnout. Exiting through the gift shop has never been this profitable, and given the recent slew of popular exhibitions from some of the country's top art galleries, people are simply flocking to the art shows to not only appreciate the visual feast on display, but to also take home a piece of the experience with them through the purchase of souvenirs, trinkets, and other paraphernalia related to the museum's specific artists on display.
Despite the government slashing a significant amount off the arts budget, British museums still managed to persevere through such challenges and thrived with a profitable avenue of selling art-related items as a means to offset the lack of financial support from the government. The chairman of the Association for Cultural Enterprises, John Stachiewicz, has opined that the arts sector has considerably stepped up their game when the going got tough for them. He notes, "Cuts in the cultural sector have been deep since the recession hit and institutions have quite simply had to rise to the challenge. One of the ways we have witnessed the sector doing this is by creating unique and relevant products to sell to visitors."
A recent exhibition honouring rock-and-roll living legend David Bowie at the world-renowned Victoria and Albert Museum drew a huge crowd from his dedicated fanbase, including celebrity art supporters such as Tilda Swinton. In response, the V&A churned out David Bowie collectibles-from photographic prints to guitar picks-with price tags that range from affordable to pocket-burning. Needless to say, the Bowie fanatics ate it all up and are thankful that such an opportunity allowed them to appreciate their music idol even more. Elsewhere, art repositories, such as the Science Museum and the London Transport Museum, are also making smart decisions through their gift shops by offering an innovative range of products that are designed to pique the interest of first-time museum goers and regular patrons.
Profits are certainly going through the roof for many UK museums thanks to their savvy efforts in peddling must-have items at their gift shops. Previously seen as a tacky strategy to cheapen the artistic value of priceless artworks, museums have now done away with such an image and are offering more creative means to sell paraphernalia that are of exceptional quality just like the artwork pieces on display in their esteemed halls. Mike Walton, trading head for the London Transport Museum, has weighed in his views regarding the status of the arts industry in general by stating, "Having a shop used to be a necessary evil for many museums. It's always been much more about the institution itself, and the commercial activities were seen as a sideshow with no great interest to those who ran the museums. We were near the bottom of the pile in terms of importance. But now it has become vital for virtually all cultural institutions, whether they are in the public domain or independent, to raise more and more money as government and local authority grants dry up. So, in order to thrive and prosper, our operations are now absolutely essential."
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