2025 Retail Programme Case Study
Curating Retail – MD North Programme 2025
The Programme
There has never been a greater time to focus on diversifying income, with financial pressures increasing across the sector. In June 2025 twenty participants attended a Museum Development North retail training programme at The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle. Our trainers, Matthew Henderson and Anya Kirkby, have created some of the most exciting and stand out retail offers in the cultural sector, having developed commercial activities at Beamish, The Living Museum of the North before supporting 25+ organisations over the last few years.
Museums represented ranged from small community operated venues to internationally recognised attractions, all of them with a shared goal of reviewing, developing and improving their retail offers to further support their museum.
The jam-packed day consisted of a mix of case studies and real-life examples, combined with practical advice and the opportunity to work with colleagues during activity and breakout sessions. Taking place in one of the most stunning rooms of The Bowes Museum, attendees were also treated to a presentation by David Nicholls, the museum’s Head of Commercial and Visitor Welcome, who talked the group through the museum’s retail journey.
The training day was a huge success with feedback showing an incredibly high percentage of participants had gained new knowledge and skills, with 85% of participants saying they felt inspired to find out more. As a follow-on to the training, everyone on the programme was offered mentoring with Matthew or Anya to respond to their specific retail needs.
The online mentoring took place across the summer and it is hugely exciting to see the museums using their learning to make changes and implement new ideas within their retail offer.
Top Tips: Key Learning Points
1: Story-led retail works best
Museums tell stories through their collections, yet often retail tells no story, it can be a ‘bolt on’ at the end of the visit. Participants learnt that it can actually be an opportunity to tell new stories and offer a ‘best of’ experience; similar to highlights at the end of a TV programme. This can be done by breaking down traditional categories such as books, toys and homeware, and instead creating story-led displays, based on the key themes of their museum. This approach often leads to visitors purchasing multiple items from a range, rather than one thing from a ‘category’ display, and better reflects a story-led museum.
This is something Brontë Parsonage Museum have since worked on:
“We have been slowly changing our shop displays. This has progressed with the advice received and we are now aiming for more ‘mixed’ displays’ – books and gifts together, bringing a fresh and more interesting feel to the shop with central focal points. We have also created a Yorkshire display – with new products from local suppliers and other Yorkshire themed products.”
2: Retail is part of the experience
Seeing museum retail as part of the experience is important, the museum shop can be an attraction in itself and retail can even expand outside of the shop. Participants looked at whether signage or displays promoting retail items near relevant collections/interpretation is possible, continuing the story. The Fusiliers Museum of Northumberland identified areas where the shop could expand alongside exhibition space and used the mentoring time to develop this idea, as well as reviewing the wider retail operation, ahead of a Trustee meeting to consider the proposal.
3: Retail is in the detail
The training day and mentoring concentrated on practical advice that could make a difference to the individual museums. A consistent theme of the day was that ‘retail is in the detail’ whether that is looking at how items are priced, adding bespoke stickers to existing stock (to allow them to become a souvenir of the museum) or the way that stock is managed. Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life focused on the detail when reviewing stock management during the mentoring time, taking an ‘every penny counts’ approach and looking at ways the packaging of non-bespoke products could be improved to allow visitors to ‘take home a piece of the museum’ rather than a generic item.
4: Supporting local and independent businesses
A section of the training day, and lots of the mentoring time, focused around how to work with small and often local businesses. There are many advantages of doing so, including environmental and social economic reasons, along with greater promotional opportunities. The training focused on ways to create partnerships (rather than a “them and us approach”), to upskill local businesses to supply wholesale. This longer term thinking often leads to creating exciting bespoke products and closer collaboration, such as in-store sampling and training. Several of the museums have now done this, including Brontë Parsonage Museum who have created a new Christmas decoration with a small independent business, a new calendar with a local photographer and are exploring bespoke local food lines.
Tameside Museums also created a range inspired by the grocery store within Portland Basin Museum’s re-created street. This includes food and souvenir products featuring a period design created during the 3 hours mentoring time; it’s the first step of many planned changes and looks fantastic.
Rachel Cornes from Tameside Museums said:
“As well as the confectionery lines we got some tote bags, magnets and magnetic shopping lists created in the design. They’ve all just gone on sale in the shop this week and we’ve had lovely feedback from visitors. There’s also a real sense of pride and excitement from all our staff that we’ve created these high quality unique products.”
5: Product is key
A huge part of the training day and mentoring was looking at ways that museums can create product ranges that truly reflect their collection; it is after all the reason visitors come! Our trainers Matthew and Anya have created thousands of bespoke products and jumped at the chance to help the museums start their bespoke product journeys – turning the things visitors most love into things they can take home.
As Kat Parker from the Brantwood Trust said:
“The workshop and Anya’s advice will stay with me for a long time and will completely influence how I view Brantwood’s retail offer going forward. I now have the confidence and know-how to start developing core ranges unique to Brantwood which I think our visitors will love. I am also keen to project the branding throughout the shop through the use of simple things such as Brantwood branded swing tags! It will be quite transformative and will really lift our little shop to the next level.”
At Brantwood, the former home of John Ruskin, the Trust are developing products featuring the unique hand-printed wallpaper design from the house’s Study and Drawing Room. Products in development include mugs, tea towels, pens, pencils and note pads and will be unique to Brantwood. Excitingly, they are also working with a local gin distiller to create a gin flavoured with botanicals and plants that are growing in John Ruskin’s own special garden. The garden was affectionately named The Professor’s Garden by family and local people, and The Professor’s Garden Gin will celebrate the re- opening of the garden after its recent restoration.
Middlesbrough Museums were successful in using their experience to secure further funding to commission a local artist to create core designs for their souvenir products. Product is often the most exciting part of a shop and several of the participants have used the training and mentoring to create bespoke products that are delighting their visitors.
And to think none of this would have happened without colleagues taking time out of their busy schedules to participate in the training programme! We’re ready to go shopping at some of these inspiring museums now…!
If you are interested in finding out more about the experience of the museums taking part in this programme please contact Museum Development Adviser Sue Hughes, sue.hughes@museumdevelopmentnorth.org.uk.
For the fully illustrated report go to Curating Retail (Word Version) or Curating Retail (PDF Version).