Remodeled Gift Shop Opens Sept. 28 at Bishop Museum
Things are looking pretty spiffy and hi-tech at the front entrance to Bishop Museum. Since mid-June, the front entry to the 100-year-old museum has been closed for a major remodeling project to its Shop Pacifica gift shop, visitor admissions area and front box office. The makeover for the main visitor entrance to Bishop Museum and Shop Pacifica is nearly completed, according to Director of Retail Sales Maria Young. The newly remodeled Shop Pacifica and visitor services area is set to re-open at 9 a.m. on September 28, 2007.
The temporary location of Shop Pacifica, which was relocated to the Hall of Discovery near the Watumull Planetarium entrance, will close September 25 in order to transfer the merchandise. The project, which included major upgrades to the visitor services area and box office as well as Shop Pacifica, took about twelve weeks for completion. The Shop Pacifica makeover included new flooring, upgraded fixtures, better lighting, and many product upgrades. Modern flat screen ticket information displays and better signage is also a new feature making visitor and ticket information easier to read.
“We are putting a new emphasis on prompt and friendly customer service and enabling our new Ho’okipa Ambassadors, Bishop Museum’s new job title for staff working in this area, to serve the customers more quickly and efficiently” says Young.
The new Ho’okipa Ambassadors are undergoing extensive training in a variety of areas including customer service to prepare for the opening. The new shop will also have upgraded retail systems and security features. In addition a special membership concierge space has been added, to better serve the needs of Bishop Museum’s membes.
Shop Pacifica is known for its wide selection of books about Hawaiian and Polynesian history and culture and as the major 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 major 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 planned for summer of 2009 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 residents and visitors who come to Bishop Museum to learn about the natural history, art, and culture of Hawai‘i every year.”
Hawaiian Hall is undergoing a $21 million renovation and reinstallation, the first major 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 for natural and cultural history. 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 the opening of the newly renovated Shop Pacifica, call 808.847.3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
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