14 Jul Newport Car Museum Expands Gift Shop, Welcomes General Public
The Newport Car Museum Gift Shop recently doubled in size to 2,100 sq. ft., making it comparable in size to a small house and able to increase its offerings of eclectic items for car lovers and others. Visitors are welcome anytime between the Museum’s hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. (every day) and do not need an admission ticket to shop.
In addition to Newport Car Museum merchandise and car-related T-shirts and sweatshirts, top-selling items are Buckle Down keychains, belts and lanyards; prints of the Museum’s car collection; regionally-focused gift items, ranging from lobster platters to stuffed sharks; as well as books, puzzles, toys, and greeting cards for every occasion, with “year of birth” being the most popular.
Also popular as attractions beyond the Gift Shop’s glass doors is a six-foot-high motorized K’NEX ferris wheel, made from 8,550 pieces and a center paddock where hundreds of colorful die-cast cars lie in wait for a new owner, whether young or old.
“We like to say we sell more exotic and classic cars than any dealership in the Northeast,” said Museum Co-Founder Maggie Buerman who curates the Gift Shop offerings (and also constructed the K’NEX piece). “Kids are thrilled with the pink Lamborghinis and the flower-power VW vans, while adults are apt to search for specific marques and makes such as a 1966 Ford GT40, 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air or Porsche 911 GT3. We also have an assortment of Lamborghinis and McLarens.
“More than anything, we love that the Newport Car Museum Gift Shop is a happy place,” added Buerman. “It has become, in effect, a seventh gallery of color and fun, added to the Museum’s six galleries (and a Pop-Up Porsche Exhibit) that tell the story of automotive history through the ‘art of the car.’”
