Should the 9/11 memorial have a gift shop?

[Phoenix84]

Interesting article.  Apparently some people are offended or think "it's in poor taste" for the 9/11 memorial that opened on May 15 at ground zero to have a gift shop.

www.today.com/news/commercialized-grief-public-reacts-september-11-museum-gift-shop-2D79680937

It's worth noting that the museum is not a national landmark or monument, and does not receive any government money.  The monument is entirely funded by donations, ticket sales, and the gift shop.

What do you think? 

[Phoenix84]

I don't see a problem with it.  I think if visitors want a memento or something to remember their visit by, that's their perogative.  People deal with things different ways.

[Gardening Grandma]

To me, it would be in poor taste.  Aren't photos momento enough?

As a comparison, the Arizona memorial doesn't have a gift shop, per se, but they have a Visitor's Center where they sell books about Pearl Harbor.  

[swamp]

i can't imagine what I would want to buy to "remember 9/11" with, but whatever. If someone wants to buy something, let them.

[hoops902]

It's not like they're selling 9/11 Hot Sauce, "Make your taste buds EXPLODE" or something else tacky.  People want mementos from places they've visited.


People are going to want something after visiting the location, isn't it better that they buy it at the site and help fund the site than buy it off the street somewhere else.

[souldoubt]

May 19, 2014 13:14:52 GMT -5 swamp said:

i can't imagine what I would want to buy to "remember 9/11" with, but whatever. If someone wants to buy something, let them.

This.  If anything I would just donate money.

[swamp]

May 19, 2014 13:14:57 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

It's not like they're selling 9/11 Hot Sauce, "Make your taste buds EXPLODE" or something else tacky.  People want mementos from places they've visited.


People are going to want something after visiting the location, isn't it better that they buy it at the site and help fund the site than buy it off the street somewhere else.

I'm sorry, but that made me LOL. Completely inappropriate, yet really funny.

Are you in marketing?

[michelyn8]

I have mixed feelings on this.  On one hand I can see the need to raise revenue for maintenance of the museum and to pay the staff.  On the other, I find the idea of a gift shop a bit tacky.  If you go the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, there is no gift shop at those. I don't know if those are government run or not but I would hope that admission and donations would be adequate to maintain the WTC-9/11 Museum.  However, in reading comments to an article about it this morning, someone mentioned proceeds going to the families of victims.  If that's true, I have issue with that too.  Proceeds should be used for upkeep not to pad the pockets of a group of people who have been paid quite a bit over the years.

[greeniis10]

Shortly after 9/11 I purchased a mirror that has the US flag etched on it and "Remember 9/11" that I have in one of my hallways.  That's all I would ever purchase.  I'd like to see the museum but I don't think I'd buy any other commemorative items.  But, to each their own. 

[hoops902]

May 19, 2014 13:24:42 GMT -5 swamp said:

May 19, 2014 13:14:57 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

It's not like they're selling 9/11 Hot Sauce, "Make your taste buds EXPLODE" or something else tacky.  People want mementos from places they've visited.


People are going to want something after visiting the location, isn't it better that they buy it at the site and help fund the site than buy it off the street somewhere else.

I'm sorry, but that made me LOL. Completely inappropriate, yet really funny.

Are you in marketing?

No, I just have a natural knack for inappropriateness.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

May 19, 2014 13:10:44 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

To me, it would be in poor taste.  Aren't photos momento enough?

As a comparison, the Arizona memorial doesn't have a gift shop, per se, but they have a Visitor's Center where they sell books about Pearl Harbor.  

The gift shop also sells t shirts, mugs, pins, etc.

I know, I bought a t shirt for a friend when I went.

[Angel!]

The gift shop has been there a long time.  It was located sort of offsite before & I am sure it has moved into the museum, but I remember it from when I visited well over a year ago.  I think I bought DS a NYPD shirt & DD a NYFD hat.  I thought it was kind of cool, there were a lot of books & stuff.  Maybe I just have a different definition of tacky - people want to remember & want momentos, IMO it kind of makes sense for a museum to have a gift shop.

[Deleted]

I've got a warped sense of humor and I LOL'd at hoops' potential product.

I'd put this memorial in the same category as a former Nazi prison camp in Europe, or the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Post cards, books on the memorial or the history of the event that occurred there: yes. NYPD or NYFD logo shirts/caps? Probably. Would I ever buy a cap or a key chain or a T-shirt from a memorial or a museum dedicated to a terrible tragedy? No. (And if they do sell them at the 9/11 memorial they darn well better be made in the USA.)

[Tiny]

IDK, I would think the typical gift shop tchotchkes - collector spoons, mugs, magnets, postcards, t-shirts (maybe shot glasses?), keyrings don't seem that offensive to me (unless they've got some sort of tasteless/tacky saying on them).

I guess I'm OK with the idea of a gift shop - I would imagine it probably sells books/photos about 9/11. I would think maybe the store might sell generic patriotic kinda things (flags, t-shirts, pencils, etc) too (not specifically labeled/branded 9/11).

I suspect that the people who visit memorials/muesuems dedicated to great tragedies would be more inclined to want something to take home with them as part of the experience of going to the place.

I don't have a problem with it.

[lexxy703]

I don't see the problem.  The gift shop helps fund the memorial.  People always buy suveniers of places they've been.  Might as well get in on it.

[Gardening Grandma]

May 19, 2014 14:43:07 GMT -5 lexxy703 said:

I don't see the problem.  The gift shop helps fund the memorial.  People always buy suveniers of places they've been.  Might as well get in on it.

No, people don't "always buy suveniers"...   I rarely purchase souveniers...  I prefer to take photos.

[lexxy703]

May 19, 2014 15:44:21 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

May 19, 2014 14:43:07 GMT -5 lexxy703 said:

I don't see the problem.  The gift shop helps fund the memorial.  People always buy suveniers of places they've been.  Might as well get in on it.

No, people don't "always buy suveniers"...   I rarely purchase souveniers...  I prefer to take photos.

Fair enough, not everyone buys suveniers.  But I'd bet the majority do.  Me personally, I have purchased a T shirt from every place I've been.  I have purchased art from some places & jewelry from others.  I also have a sepearate photo album with pictures from each vacation.

[Deleted]

The only souvenir we buy consistently is refrigerator magnets. I doubt we would have bought them at Theresienstadt or the Anne Frank House even if they'd been available.

[lazysundays]

I could see the gifts being a reminder of the experience, for self or others that honor the memory back home.

[Spellbound454]

Really bad taste

The museum should be there to help people appreciate the enormity of the event...and to pay their respects.

but don't start selling T shirts FFS

If they want to float petals on remembrance day......they should bring their own

[bean29]

The thing I am most likely to buy are postcards.  The shots on postcards are often better than what I can take myself.

I am sure I most have postcards from the USS Arizona/Pearl Harbor Memorial Center.

I remember I did not particulariy want to visit there, but once there I was fascinated.

I am the only member of my immediate family that has been to Hawaii.  Why wouldn't family members be interested?  How is it in bad taste if you are remembering/honoring those affected by the trajedy?

[Deleted]

May 19, 2014 14:52:33 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Here's a link to their on-line store

www.911memorial.org/catalog

I don't see anything that is in bad taste.   None of Hoops' Hot Sauce

A lot of the items have stories or explanations behind them,  even the totes. 

DS2 went on a field trip to NYC and they visited the memorial and the museum.  He bought one of the metal remembrance bracelets - not a damn thing tacky about it.

[Phoenix84]

May 19, 2014 13:14:57 GMT -5 hoops902 said:

It's not like they're selling 9/11 Hot Sauce, "Make your taste buds EXPLODE" or something else tacky.  People want mementos from places they've visited.


People are going to want something after visiting the location, isn't it better that they buy it at the site and help fund the site than buy it off the street somewhere else.

Hoops has a good point.  If there is no gift shop, people will just by the shirts and hats and stuff somewhere else, probably from some enterprising street vendor.  I'm sure if you're worried about "in poor taste" I'm sure the street vendors will have you covered.

I mean, one way or another, visitors who visit are going to find and buy shirts and keychains and mugs and stuff like that.  Would you rather the proceeds be used to help fund the monument itself or pad the pockets of some street vendor who got it from a third world sweat shop?

[Deleted]

I collect postcards of places that I have visited.  I once saw this cool project where you ran them all around the room (think computer room in my case) in a kind of chair rail thing.

I'll probably never do that, but I always get several postcards from places that I visit.  Postcards are really "better" than taking pictures.  Pictures should be of people, not places.  I read that somewhere.

I do remember when I worked at Macy's, the managers said there will never be a sale associated with 9/11.  What would you call it?  The American Victims or American Heroes Day Sale?

[skubikky]

May 19, 2014 13:40:09 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

I'm confused why this is a headline now.  I think the gift shop has been up and running for a couple of years now,  I know I was there two years ago.  

I have an immediate family member who is in management at the 9/11 Memorial.
He said that at this time, the Memorial and Museum is not Federally funded.  It is their goal for it to be but it isn't at this time.
There has a been a retail space at the site since 2006.
The majority of sales  is for the smaller things, magnets, key chains, stickers.
But, by far the largest portion of sales are the FDNY and NYPD T-shirts and other items.

[Bob Ross]

Do they sell this shirt?



What?  Too soon?

[wyouser]

I don't have a problem with it. Some things are perhaps in better taste than others. Ive been through a couple concentration camps in Germany, one at Dachau and one at Buchenwald. Both had shops. Both were heavy into books and videos on the camps so one could pick up more information about them.

[formerroomate99]

I'm just trying to wrap my head around what they would sell at that place.

Postcards, maybe books or videos about the event? Other than that, I can't think of anything else that wouldn't be tacky or morbid.

[truthbound]

No they shouldn't. Nor should they be charging $24 a pop to take a five minute walk though a museum. But if people are stupid enough to pay it that is their problem. Sell hot sauce to all the suckers I say. God bless capitalism.