MERCHANDISE BY COMMITTEE
Performance night action surrounding the gift shop at the Santa Fe Opera
Building Effective and Meaningful Relationships With Museum Store Professionals BY JACQUELYN ABUNDIS, RETAIL MANAGER/BUYER, THE SANTA FE OPERA
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couple of years ago my supervisor requested I organize a Gift Shop Product Advisory Committee. My first reaction to this request was somewhat defensive. Silent thoughts ran through my head: “What have I done wrong? Why do I need a committee to advise me after 14 seasons of developing successful and profitable products for our shop? And why do I have to ask others how to do my job when no one else in the company requires a committee to tell them how to do theirs?” I said, “What a great idea!” My supervisor further explained this would allow staff, volunteers, and board and guild members to have a forum to present their ideas for gift shop products. In my supervisor’s words, “…to get broader engagement and ‘buy-in’ from cross-departmental perspectives. It is much easier to find ways to leverage product throughout our organization (and therefore our customer’s experience) when they are invested in the products themselves…” Okay. But I was not convinced. Like so many other buyers who have had their positions for many years, I admit, I own the shop. I mean, I emotionally own the shop. In my numerous conversations with other buyers, I realize this connection to our shop is something we all share. I love my
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work. As a professional designer/retailer with a background in both graphic and interior design, I love the creative side of my work. I am passionately involved in every detail. For nearly 15 years, I have been working fairly independently as the retail manager and buyer at The Santa Fe Opera. So I was apprehensive about this committee idea. I was concerned about a lack of continuity in products. I was worried that some participants might have special interests, such as promoting the work of a friend or relative. I was apprehensive about possibly being pressured to include products that I knew would not be a good fit to appease a special V.I.P. Most importantly, I imagined a huge slowdown in my work due to the decision-by-committee effect. How could a group of individuals, meeting only occasionally, visualize the entire finished shop? Would they be able to visualize the product groups, how the products tell a story and work together as a whole? This is challenging for me, and I do it all day long, every day, all year long. I was also aware that these folks, with little or no retail background, did not understand what I did during our offseason months and what was required to create a large selection of successful new products every year. Many of our products are customized or purchased to tie with the current opera season. I work with many artists and
MUSEUM STORE
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3/3/15 9:16 AM