Local museums rolled out the red carpet Sunday for holiday shoppers looking for unique gifts.
Falling between Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, Museum Store Sunday was created to drive attention to the gift shops that museum visitors normally browse at the end of their tours.
The worldwide event has continued to grow, announcing around 2,100 participating shops in 2023 with 13 in Hampton Roads.
Among them, the museum gift shop at Jamestown Settlement, which celebrated its fourth Museum Store Sunday by creating a Holiday Gift Guide ahead of the big day, featuring curated items in line with the museum's mission to preserve and educate about history.
“Here at Jamestown, we talk about the 17th-century experience and our glassware (in the shop) is from the glass house on Jamestown Island," said Janet Kane, who manages the gift shops at both Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. "It is made in the 17th-century manner and we offer that here. We have tobacco jars which are also storage containers from the 17th century.”
To further entice potential customers, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation also offered a 20 percent discount on all items and free gift bags to the first 25 people to buy something.
Similarly, museums on the Southside also offered discounts — for example, 15 percent at Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk and 15 percent at Children's Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth, with bigger sales for members.
But the potential return in investment for the institutions is pretty big, with shop revenues often supporting museum missions and programs.
Local museums participating in Museum Store Sunday include:
James City County: Historic Jamestowne Museum, Jamestown Settlement
York County: American Revolution Museum at Yorktown
Newport News: The Mariners' Museum and Park, The Virginia Living Museum
Norfolk: Chrysler Museum of Art, Nauticus
Portsmouth: Children's Museum of Virginia, Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum
Virginia Beach: Military Aviation Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach Surf & Rescue Museum
