The role of the museum shop in sustainable futures

Abstract

In recent years the museum shop has been recognized as an important part of the broader organization, both in its economic contribution and its cultural impact on the visitor experience. Yet little academic research examines how the museum shop can support museum agendas. This paper addresses this gap by rethinking the role of museum shops in supporting museum sustainability initiatives. Sustainability has become an important topic across the museum sector in recent years, including within museum retailing. Museum shops typically address sustainability by attempting to reduce their environmental footprint, but such interventions are usually limited to minimizing impact rather than providing an alternative vision of what the shop could be and do. By contrast, utilizing a sustainable development framework, we contend that the museum shop can make a significant contribution to areas of social, cultural, environmental and economic sustainability, and in doing so strengthen museums' relationships with their visitors and the broader public.

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