Location: Museum of Fine Arts Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, recently announced the reopening of its retail space on the first floor of the Audrey Jones Beck Building. Formerly known as the MFAH Shop, the MFA Shop has taken on a new identity, in line with the recently opened MFA Café located on the lower level of the Beck Building. Featuring an exciting and well-curated selection of accessories, jewelry, design objects, books, and more, the MFA Shop boasts a fresh logo, renovated interior, redesigned displays, and product lines that are unavailable anywhere else in Texas. General Manager, and my friend, Chris Goins, has successfully curated some of the most interesting items from around the world and is offering them at affordable prices. I don’t know how she does it!  The gold-plated playing cards for $15 caught my eye right away. Due to the large demographic that visits the museum, they decided that price-point was very important, so that all of us can benefit from this shop. Chris Goins has successfully created an atmosphere of art objects that are unique, yet cost-friendly, so they can be enjoyed by all. Wow. I was so impressed.

This new shop is designed to be open and shopper friendly. You can see absolutely everything in a 360* circumference. There’s also an 85″ monitor screen that rotates photos of the collection in the museum. MFAH Director, Gary Tinterow, stopped by to greet us and talk about the new shop. He explained the connection between good design, industrial design and art museums. He also pointed out that all the beautiful objects in this shop are easy to see and are meant to enhance the life of museum goers. The shop brings attention to all the MFAH curatorial departments and most attendees want a token to remember their museum experience.

The MFA Shop has a new and distinctive aesthetic, which will change seasonally. The first seasonal approach places a strong emphasis on color. They wanted to continue the engagement of the Museum visitor inside of the MFA Shop, making it an integral part of the Museum experience. Well you certainly have succeeded MFA! I’m going back for some shopping!!