Market Hall Museum
2021-22
The challenge
Formerly known as the Warwickshire County Museum, Market Hall Museum was extensively refurbished in 2017 and offered a family-friendly museum experience, together with an attractive cafe.
The shop occupied a very small footprint and the museum's management wanted to expand it in order to earn more revenue, as well as capitalising on the city centre location to grow engagement and visitation.
The solution
Starting with a creative workshop, involving all parts of the organisation, we developed a focused proposition for the museum as a destination, together with a set of customer personas, enabling the team to think much more clearly about who visits, who might be attracted to visit, and what they might want from the museum and shop.
Inspired by the original purpose of the building - the Market Hall - and by an image of Birmingham's Market Hall, dressed for the 1937 Coronation of King George V, we devised the new retail concept - less of a museum shop, more of a dynamic marketplace, offering exciting, locally sourced products (from food and drink to arts and crafts), and, combined with the museum's core collections and changing exhibitions, and the popular cafe, creating a destination experience that could be enjoyed by local people and visitors alike.
We helped the team devise a brief and source a design and shopfitting partner - arj cre8 ltd - to bring the vision to life. Meanwhile, we supported the development of range plans and the sourcing of product; and in the run-up to opening we delivered an interactive Masterclass for the whole FOH team, covering everything from customer experience and sales to display and visual merchandising.
The results
The shop reopened with an enthusiastic team who had been involved throughout the process; sales targets were exceeded, local designers, makers and producers were attracted to display their wares and create in-store theatre; and Warwick now has a reimagined, cultural destination at its heart.
The verdict
“Stephen worked creatively and collaboratively with our team to help us reimagine what the total experience could be, enabling us to become a cultural destination and increase engagement, repeat visitation, and revenue.
He helped us see the concept through to implementation, advising on everything from range development, product marketing and sales, to sourcing a suitable shop designer and fitter. It's been a pleasure working with Stephen and we would happily recommend his services.”
