Best zoo gift shops

[Arizona Docent]

Fofo's recent pictures of the Zurich Zoo gift shop got me thinking. What are the best zoo gift shops in the world? "Best" can be defined however you want - perhaps most original, or unique, or biggest, or wide book selection, or whatever. Please describe why you think it is one of the best. Photo attachments are good if you have them, but not required.

 

[Arizona Docent]

Since it is my thread, I should start things off. There are two that stand out immediately (I may think of more later).

San Diego Zoo. For size and sheer diversity. They have everything from a large book selection (very rare in zoos - most just have childrens books) to upscale animal themed decorations and dinnerware to DVD's (including shows on their own zoo) to a great postcard collection to the usual hats and tshirts and posters. Plus one of the few American zoos with their own guidebook (which is a HUGE plus to me and I think to most ZooChatters).

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. For uniqueness and upscale quality. The demographic of their visitors is different than most zoos - they have a largely out-of-town tourist base and largely adult base. They cater to this with expensive desert minerals and jewelry, unique desert food items (prickly pear cactus candy and jelly, etc), an unsurpassed book selection, hand made note cards from local photographers and artists, as well as the usual tshirts and stuffed animals (although the stuffed animals are strictly local wildlife such as coyotes and javelinas).

 

[jbnbsn99]

I would suggest the Dallas World Aquarium bookstore. What other zoo store carries a complete set of Handbook of Birds of the World?

 

[Jabiru96]

Taronga Zoo's new giftshop is quite alright and caters for visitors (tourists) quite well with various items, stuffed toys, clothing, mugs/postcards/any other tourist items, toys, etc. (which is not my basis for it being a good gift shop) as I like it for the following two reasons:

1. Small items that resemble African animals (giraffe, zebra and elephant) are sold that are made by people in Africa and completely of beads, giving them employment as well as donating a small sum of the profit back into the community. It also encourages the communities to acknowledge and share their land with native animals and prevent human-animal conflict. Other Australian zoos I know of that are also doing this (called "Beads for Wildlife") are Melbourne and Werribee.

2. It overlooks the soon-to-be Goodfellow's Tree Kangaroo exhibit which I think is a nice addition.

 

[sooty mangabey]

An interesting thread.

In the UK, gift shops are increasingly massive, but, unfortunately, the greater size tends to mean that there is just more of the same old tat for sale. Chester can have some decent books, sometimes, but it's not something you'd pin your hopes on. London has some very nice historical things - old postcards and so on - but is still dominated by nasty plastic items and cuddly toys. Paignton is part of a great building - one of the nicest zoo entrances - but is, again, full of old junk.

The best shops in terms of the sort of stuff they sell - things that you might actually want to buy if you were more than five years old, or if you had not had a taste by-pass operation - the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust shops are, generally, at the top of the tree, even if there's a possibly rather twee, very middle class sort of feel to it all - tasteful tea towels and over-priced chutney, alongside books about the birds of Iceland (and there's nothing wrong with a tasteful tea towel, of course, nor nice chutney).

I am always astounded by the size and half-heartedness of shops in German zoos. Even a commercial behemoth like Leipzig has a shop little bigger than that at, say, Newquay Zoo. Frankfurt has no shop at all - just a dreadful kiosk. Berlin has a tiny shop. In some ways I rather applaud this failure to acknowledge commercial responsibilities, but it is extraordinary. It also leads to a great shop, like that at Berlin Tierpark - great for me, but possibly not for 99% of visitors, with its shelves of old zoo guides and annual reports for sale.

 

[jenjen]

1. Small items that resemble African animals (giraffe, zebra and elephant) are sold that are made by people in Africa and completely of beads, giving them employment as well as donating a small sum of the profit back into the community. It also encourages the communities to acknowledge and share their land with native animals and prevent human-animal conflict. Other Australian zoos I know of that are also doing this (called "Beads for Wildlife") are Melbourne and Werribee.

Marwell Zoo in the UK do the same thing, I have a set of drums, a didgeridoo and some other small rattle type things, ect. They also had mirrors, photo frames, soaps and other stuff. All very cheep and are popular.

 

[Cat-Man]

Arizona Docent, tell me, is it really that upcommon for US zoo's too sell guidebooks? Because it is almost a staple for UK collections, and every collection I've been too, par 2, have sold visitor guides of some sort. Even SeaWorld and Busch Gardens had guidebook when I visited.

 

[zooman64]

The important thing is that zoo giftshops should stock items relevant to the subject of animals and zoos, and not toy aeroplanes, toy tractors, footballs, kites, etc. which have no relevance whatsoever. Furthermore, I like the giftshop to stock a really good selection of animal books (and not just books for children) and the postcards should actually reflect the species the zoo has in its collection. On my last visit to London Zoo, I noted that many of the postcards featured animals that were not even held at the London site but at Whipsnade (such as elephants and chimpanzees) which must lead to a certain amount of confusion with visitors feeling they've missed some exhibits.

But the weirdest zoo giftshop I've been in has to be Noah's Ark Zoo Farm, near Bristol. As is fairly well known, this place is run by fundamentalist Christians (I have no issue with that) who believe in the literal truth of the Bible and don't even open their zoo on a Sunday for this reason. But it did seem more than a little unusual for a zoo giftshop to be selling a selection of Bibles.

 

[Arizona Docent]

I like the giftshop to stock a really good selection of animal books (and not just books for children)...

I agree, although this is exremely rare in U.S. zoos. The two San Diego facilities used to be the best in this regards, but I am sad to report from my visit a couple weeks ago this is no longer the case. The Safari Park gift shop does not have any adult books at all anymore (they used to have a very nice selection). The Gorilla Tropics gift shop at the zoo does not have any left either, except a few leftovers on clearance. The main zoo gift shop still has some, but not the selection they used to have.

The only place in the states I can think of that has a great and diverse adult book collection is the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum right here in my city of Tucson.

 

[Ituri]

I agree, although this is exremely rare in U.S. zoos. The two San Diego facilities used to be the best in this regards, but I am sad to report from my visit a couple weeks ago this is no longer the case. The Safari Park gift shop does not have any adult books at all anymore (they used to have a very nice selection). The Gorilla Tropics gift shop at the zoo does not have any left either, except a few leftovers on clearance. The main zoo gift shop still has some, but not the selection they used to have.

The only place in the states I can think of that has a great and diverse adult book collection is the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum right here in my city of Tucson.

I agree the ASDM has a wonderful book selection, even going so far as to publish their own books. A real gem.

 

[Hix]

Re: San Diego Zoo Giftshop
Last time I was there was 20 years ago, but I spent over $1,000 there, mostly on books. They had a large giftshop with lots of really good books. Disappointed to hear it's not the same anymore.

They also had for sale (and a I posted a photo, but it may have disappeared in The Great Purge of 2010) a window from one of the orang enclosures. An orang had found a rock and hit the glass so hard it shattered, but the laminate prevented the glass pieces from falling out. The window was removed, a frame put around it, and it was being sold as a unique, one-of-a-kind coffee table - for $4,000.

Re: Taronga Zoo Giftshop
Used to be full of cheap crap for the kids, now they have much more space they can stock (along with the cheap crap) bigger and better quality products, particularly things with an African theme, some imported from Africa (with a corresponding pricetag).
They're adult books are limited, but predominantly coffeetable picture books, and a few other good animal books but nothing particularly special.

Adelaide Zoo - giftshop was rather small but I bought a large handblown glass hippo made in Swaziland from recycled glass bottles.

Zealandia - The Karori Sanctuary (Wellington, New Zealand) - nice giftshop, I spent over $400 there last October on some books, possum/merino socks and other clothing, and some copper-coloured wetas made from twisted wire.

And I know it's not a zoo, but the bookshop in the Canberra Botanical Gardens is just brilliant! I've found lots of wildlife books there I just can't find elsewhere (being nextdoor to CSIRO helps a bit, I guess).



Hix

Found a pic of the coffee table.

 

[Arek]

I am always astounded by the size and half-heartedness of shops in German zoos. Even a commercial behemoth like Leipzig has a shop little bigger than that at, say, Newquay Zoo. Frankfurt has no shop at all - just a dreadful kiosk. Berlin has a tiny shop. In some ways I rather applaud this failure to acknowledge commercial responsibilities, but it is extraordinary. It also leads to a great shop, like that at Berlin Tierpark - great for me, but possibly not for 99% of visitors, with its shelves of old zoo guides and annual reports for sale.

It changes last time. Leipzig has second, biger shop in Gondwanaland. In Frankfurt new complex (bear enclosure, new etrance and zooshop) is under construction. In Stuttgart is quite new and big shop.
Real tragedy are shops in Polish zoos. Small corners in ticket offices or small kiosks in Frankfurt style full of plastic rubish. Zooguides are selling in ticket offices.
Much better are shops in Czech R. Big shop in Dvur Kralove with good book and postcard selection, well equiped shop in Praha (plus some more kiosks on zoo grounds), shops in Plzen, Ostrava, Olomouc and so on.