The work we’ve done with museum retail shops is analogous to our experience at MOSS, and It has been consistently successful at every location where we have been engaged to 'intervene' with an agenda to establish the shop as one that specifically represents the Mission and Collection of the museum while increasing sales. This work is based on a process both analytic and highly curatorial, a bespoke approach to all aspects of a retail operation but with a primary focus on merchandising and merchandise.
Since 2012, MOSSBUREAU has been working with museums across the country. With some we analyze and recommend, and with others we follow through to full implementation. This work has led to a refinement of our methods and expectations of what can reasonably be accomplished in the context of donor politics, shifting priorities, capital campaigns for expansion, and myriad demands on time and money.
MOSSBUREAU has worked with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, the High Museum Atlanta, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Philip Johnson Glass House, New Canaan, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Jewish Museum, New York.
Notes, examples and reviews below:
The work we’ve done with museum retail shops is analogous to our experience at MOSS, and It has been consistently successful at every location where we have been engaged to 'intervene' with an agenda to establish the shop as one that specifically represents the Mission and Collection of the museum while increasing sales. This work is based on a process both analytic and highly curatorial, a bespoke approach to all aspects of a retail operation but with a primary focus on merchandising and merchandise.
Since 2012, MOSSBUREAU has been working with museums across the country. With some we analyze and recommend, and with others we follow through to full implementation. This work has led to a refinement of our methods and expectations of what can reasonably be accomplished in the context of donor politics, shifting priorities, capital campaigns for expansion, and myriad demands on time and money.
MOSSBUREAU has worked with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, the High Museum Atlanta, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Philip Johnson Glass House, New Canaan, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Jewish Museum, New York.
Notes, examples and reviews below:
THE JEWISH MUSEUM, NEW YORK
In mid-2016, MOSSBUREAU was contracted by the Jewish Museum to analyze their retail operation and to create a plan for increasing its effectiveness. Several major changes were made fairly quickly, and others had to wait to be funded. Our work there continued on an incremental basis until 2020.
THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON
In 2015, MOSSBUREAU was hired by the MFAH to update their retail operation. Significant changes were made and the work continued until late 2019.
“It’s not just a more pleasant shopping experience, it’s the beginning of a conversation about the role of retail in a cultural institution – is it just about sales, or should it reflect the works elsewhere in the building? The new MFAH Shop shows that in the right hands, it can be all of the above.” —HOUSTONIA
In 2013, MOSSBUREAU was contracted by the Philip Johnson Glass House, a site of the National Historic Trust, to do an analysis of their retail operation. That analysis also contained recommendations for changes which the Bureau was then contracted to implement.
In 2013, MOSSBUREAU was contracted by the Philip Johnson Glass House, a site of the National Historic Trust, to do an analysis of their retail operation. That analysis also contained recommendations for changes which the Bureau was then contracted to implement.
WALL STREET JOURNAL:
“THE GLASS HOUSE DESIGN STORE IS ONE OF THE FIVE BEST MUSEUM GIFT SHOPS.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL:
“THE GLASS HOUSE DESIGN STORE IS ONE OF THE FIVE BEST MUSEUM GIFT SHOPS.”
All our brilliant work would come to nothing if there weren't people on site who got it and were not only totally able to carry on with the program but actually improve on it as time goes by. At the Glass House, the store manager, Crista Bazoian, became our partner. She was so enthusiastic, in fact, she decided to do her Master's Thesis on Murray. See it here. This was, in our opinion, above and beyond.
