Shop Pacifica Gets a Makeover: Visitors Will Enter from Side Entrance
The main visitor entrance and Shop Pacifica at Bishop Museum are getting a makeover in June, according to Director of Retail Sales Maria Young . Visitors entering the museum will be diverted to a temporary entrance located at the walkway along the right side of the front entrance, near the bus and trolley stop beginning June 23, 2007 . Museum admission will be purchased from the ticket booth inside the museum, near the Watumull Planetarium and overlooking the Great Lawn.
Shoppers will find a temporary version of Shop Pacifica relocated in the Hall of Discovery near the Watumull Planetarium entrance while the ma jo r renovation takes place. The project, which includes upgrades to the visitor entrance and box office as well as Shop Pacifica , is expected to take about a month to six weeks for completion. Shop Pacifica plans to reopen in mid-August.
The Shop Pacifica makeover will include new flooring, upgraded fixtures, better lighting, and many product upgrades. New flat screen ticket information displays and better signage will also be a new feature making visitor and ticket information easier to read and enable ho-okipa ambassadors, Bishop Museum ’s new jo b title for staff working in this area, to serve the customers more quickly and efficiently.
Shop Pacifica is known for its wide selection of books about Hawaiian and Polynesian history and culture and as the ma jo r distribution outlet for Bishop Museum Press, the fourth largest publisher of books in Hawai‘i. Bishop Museum Press, founded in 1889, has recently had an impressive resurgence in the number and quality of books it is publishing. Presently under the direction of Ron Cox , Bishop Museum Press has published more than 1,300 titles and distributed more than 1 million books in 72 countries.
Shop Pacifica is also known for its one-of-a-kind items handmade by local crafters and artists, which are not found easily anywhere. Precious and rare Ni‘ihau shell leis, woodwork and carvings by Hawaiian craftsmen, and contemporary artwork by Native Hawaiian artists are available. Shop Pacifica also carries an extensive selection of Kraus reprints (Bishop Museum Bulletins dating to the 1920s).
Young values education for Hawai‘i’s children and keeps in stock important reference materials requested by many public schools, universities, and libraries in Hawai‘i and from around the world. Shop Pacifica also stocks a variety of children’s books and educational toys with cultural, science, and natural history themes. Bishop Museum logo items and clothing are also available.
According to Young, the new Shop Pacifica will put a ma jo r focus and emphasis on mission-related products, especially new items from the vast collection of the Bishop Museum Archives.
She plans to introduce a limited edition selection of rare original photographs from the Bishop Museum Archives’ Baker Collection. These beautiful black and white images, made in Hawai‘i around the 1930s, were created by renowned Hawai‘i photographer R. J. Baker. They will be sold already matted and framed, while supplies last.
“We are undertaking this renovation to our front entrance and gift shop this summer in anticipation and preparation for the grand re-opening of Hawaiian Hall in 2008 when we expect a large influx of new visitors to the museum,” says Blair Collis , Vice President of Public Programs for Bishop Museum . “Our goal with these renovations is to provide a much improved overall visitor experience for the nearly half million people who come to Bishop Museum to learn about the natural history, art, and culture of Hawai‘i every year.”
Hawaiian Hall is undergoing a $20 million renovation and reinstallation, the first ma jo r renovation since the Museum was founded in 1889. Award-winning designer of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., Ralph Appelbaum is overseeing the reinstallation with the guidance of Bishop museum staff and cultural advisors.
Bishop Museum is designated as the State’s official museum. The Museum is the largest repository for cultural artifacts relating to the indigenous peoples of Hawai‘i and Polynesia in the world. It has an unrivaled art collection featuring rare artworks from the time of first Western contact and impressive, world-renowned collections and lending libraries of natural history specimens.
“Bishop Museum is unique in that it offers art, cultural artifacts, and natural history all presented in one place,” says Collis. “Besides our science and natural history exhibits and exhibitions of contemporary art by Native Hawaiians and art about Hawai‘i, we are actively engaged in important and groundbreaking science and natural history research around the world.”
For more information about Shop Pacifica , call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
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