National Soaring Museum Gift Shop in a Mall

[Burt Compton - Marfa]

Soaring gift shop in a mall. Brilliant, and I hope the numbers at the
end of the month validate it. Perhaps three more December's will
justify it, especially after holiday shoppers begin to expect to see
this unique gift shop in the mall. What a fantastic way to develop
personal connections with the community! Like many marketing plans,
give it time to work.

This is an excellent example of proactive "taking soaring to the
people" in addition to our usual "build it and they will come"
approach.

Congrats to Peter Smith, Director of the National Soaring Museum, and
the staff, for sharing this very interesting marketing idea. Soaring
clubs and commercial operators could use this as a model for a similar
holiday sales effort. .

By the way, if you have not visited the NSM near Elmira, New York, the
archive of the SSA and home to an amazing collection of historic
sailplanes, do it. Yes, it is off the beaten path, but so are most
things worth seeing on the planet. You can also soar off historic
Harris Hill as the museum is next to the hilltop runway. Join as a
member and support our National Soaring Museum. Go to www.soaringmuseum.org
for more information. Join today, or give a NSM membership as a gift.

News article follows:

National Soaring Museum Opens Mall Store
Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY)

The National Soaring Museum on Harris Hill in Big Flats recently
opened a gift shop at the Arnot Mall for the holiday season.

Windrider Gift Shop is located across from Liberty Travel, just inside
the north entrance to the center court.

The shop offers unique aviation and specialty souvenirs, along with
gift certificates for a sailplane ride from the Harris Hill Soaring
Corporation. Flights are available in either the high performance
glider for $75 or the vintage 2-33 Schweizer glider for $65.

Harris Hill Amusement Park is offering gift certificates as well,
usable for miniature golf, batting cages, go-karts, and the arcade.

Windrider Gift Shop mall hours are noon to 8 p.m. Monday through
Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. You can also shop online at
www.soaringmuseum.org.

For more information, call the National Soaring Museum at (607)
734-3128.

[[email protected]]

On Dec 5, 6:57 am, Burt Compton - Marfa > wrote:
> Soaring gift shop in a mall. Brilliant, and I hope the numbers at the
> end of the month validate it. Perhaps three more December's will
> justify it, especially after holiday shoppers begin to expect to see
> this unique gift shop in the mall. What a fantastic way to develop
> personal connections with the community! Like many marketing plans,
> give it time to work.
>
> This is an excellent example of proactive "taking soaring to the
> people" in addition to our usual "build it and they will come"
> approach.
>
> Congrats to Peter Smith, Director of the National Soaring Museum, and
> the staff, for sharing this very interesting marketing idea. Soaring
> clubs and commercial operators could use this as a model for a similar
> holiday sales effort. .
>
> By the way, if you have not visited the NSM near Elmira, New York, the
> archive of the SSA and home to an amazing collection of historic
> sailplanes, do it. Yes, it is off the beaten path, but so are most
> things worth seeing on the planet. You can also soar off historic
> Harris Hill as the museum is next to the hilltop runway. Join as a
> member and support our National Soaring Museum. Go towww.soaringmuseum.org
> for more information. Join today, or give a NSM membership as a gift.
>
> News article follows:
>
> National Soaring Museum Opens Mall Store
> Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY)
>
> The National Soaring Museum on Harris Hill in Big Flats recently
> opened a gift shop at the Arnot Mall for the holiday season.
>
> Windrider Gift Shop is located across from Liberty Travel, just inside
> the north entrance to the center court.
>
NSM isn't the only one doing it this holiday season. I know of one
commercial operator who just opened a kiosk in a major mall. Perhaps
he will chime in with his experience.

MM


> The shop offers unique aviation and specialty souvenirs, along with
> gift certificates for a sailplane ride from the Harris Hill Soaring
> Corporation. Flights are available in either the high performance
> glider for $75 or the vintage 2-33 Schweizer glider for $65.
>
> Harris Hill Amusement Park is offering gift certificates as well,
> usable for miniature golf, batting cages, go-karts, and the arcade.
>
> Windrider Gift Shop mall hours are noon to 8 p.m. Monday through
> Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. You can also shop online atwww.soaringmuseum.org.
>
> For more information, call the National Soaring Museum at (607)
> 734-3128.

[[email protected]]

> NSM isn't the only one doing it this holiday season. I know of one
> commercial operator who just opened a kiosk in a major mall. Perhaps
> he will chime in with his experience.
>
> MM

Hi Matt and fellow ras-ers.....

I'm guessing that would be me....:-)

I own/operate a comercial operation about a half hour south of
Minneapolis, MN in the
town of Faribault. I have been frustrated in the past with advertising
rates at this time of
year and always felt that my gift certificate sales should be doing
much better against
the Chia Pets! So I opened a kiosk at the Southdale Mall in Edina on
Nov 15th and
will be there through Dec 31st. Edina is an up-scale suburb of
Minneapolis, MN. There
are several other malls of similar size in the area, and of course the
mega-Mall of America,
but I decided the Edina demographic should work best with my
particular "product". My
wife Kathy and I split the now-11-hour-day at the kiosk and it has
been a very interesting
experience so far.

You can see the kiosk here: http://www.crosscountrysoaring.com (then
click on "The Gift")

It's set up with a slide show running on a nice, big HP monitor at one
end. At
the other we print the certificates and take credit cards. There are
big pictures on both
sides. Sales are going well. I think we're on track to hit our ride-
target by Xmas and I have
a slate of new students already. We've also gone through about 1000
pieces of literature
(business cards, pamphlets) and we've talked to a LOT of people about
how the sport
works. There can be some major lulls in traffic though, and it's not
uncommon to go through
two cappuccinos before it picks up again! We are keeping track of
people who are Interested, Very
Interested, Buyers, Multiple Buyers, Students and Add-on ratings. I
plan to write it up for
SOARING afterwards for other clubs/commercials operators who might
want to try it.

Kiosks are expensive - especially during the holidays. In this area
they 'list' for $3000 to
$6000 per month for Nov/Dec. Yeah. Per Month. They're cheap the rest
of the year or if you
want to sign a lease for a year (nope). But the mall's leasing agents
will negotiate rather
than risk leaving a kiosk empty and you could get it for less than
half that. As you can
see I decided to use the natural beauty of the sport, captured in
pictures during the season,
to promote the rides. I blew up 14 or so and mounted them. The agent
was excited at the
idea of hanging a glider inside, but then said the holidays were too
crazy and it would have
to wait till January. Too late for me. Maybe next year. She is willing
to hang a model though.
(A 4.3 M RC model would look good).

Anyway - that's about it.
Ta-

Don Ingraham
http://www.crosscountrysoaring.com

[Paul Remde]

Hi Don,

Fantastic! Well Done!

I hope it is very profitable for you. It certainly is a great way to get
the word out about soaring.

Paul Remde

> wrote in message
...
>> NSM isn't the only one doing it this holiday season. I know of one
>> commercial operator who just opened a kiosk in a major mall. Perhaps
>> he will chime in with his experience.
>>
>> MM
>
> Hi Matt and fellow ras-ers.....
>
> I'm guessing that would be me....:-)
>
> I own/operate a comercial operation about a half hour south of
> Minneapolis, MN in the
> town of Faribault. I have been frustrated in the past with advertising
> rates at this time of
> year and always felt that my gift certificate sales should be doing
> much better against
> the Chia Pets! So I opened a kiosk at the Southdale Mall in Edina on
> Nov 15th and
> will be there through Dec 31st. Edina is an up-scale suburb of
> Minneapolis, MN. There
> are several other malls of similar size in the area, and of course the
> mega-Mall of America,
> but I decided the Edina demographic should work best with my
> particular "product". My
> wife Kathy and I split the now-11-hour-day at the kiosk and it has
> been a very interesting
> experience so far.
>
> You can see the kiosk here: http://www.crosscountrysoaring.com (then
> click on "The Gift")
>
> It's set up with a slide show running on a nice, big HP monitor at one
> end. At
> the other we print the certificates and take credit cards. There are
> big pictures on both
> sides. Sales are going well. I think we're on track to hit our ride-
> target by Xmas and I have
> a slate of new students already. We've also gone through about 1000
> pieces of literature
> (business cards, pamphlets) and we've talked to a LOT of people about
> how the sport
> works. There can be some major lulls in traffic though, and it's not
> uncommon to go through
> two cappuccinos before it picks up again! We are keeping track of
> people who are Interested, Very
> Interested, Buyers, Multiple Buyers, Students and Add-on ratings. I
> plan to write it up for
> SOARING afterwards for other clubs/commercials operators who might
> want to try it.
>
> Kiosks are expensive - especially during the holidays. In this area
> they 'list' for $3000 to
> $6000 per month for Nov/Dec. Yeah. Per Month. They're cheap the rest
> of the year or if you
> want to sign a lease for a year (nope). But the mall's leasing agents
> will negotiate rather
> than risk leaving a kiosk empty and you could get it for less than
> half that. As you can
> see I decided to use the natural beauty of the sport, captured in
> pictures during the season,
> to promote the rides. I blew up 14 or so and mounted them. The agent
> was excited at the
> idea of hanging a glider inside, but then said the holidays were too
> crazy and it would have
> to wait till January. Too late for me. Maybe next year. She is willing
> to hang a model though.
> (A 4.3 M RC model would look good).
>
> Anyway - that's about it.
> Ta-
>
> Don Ingraham
> http://www.crosscountrysoaring.com

[[email protected]]

On Dec 6, 6:25 am, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
> Hi Don,
>
> Fantastic! Well Done!
>
> I hope it is very profitable for you. It certainly is a great way to get
> the word out about soaring.
>
> Paul Remde
>
> > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
>
>
> >> NSM isn't the only one doing it this holiday season. I know of one
> >> commercial operator who just opened a kiosk in a major mall. Perhaps
> >> he will chime in with his experience.
>
> >> MM
>
> > Hi Matt and fellow ras-ers.....
>
> > I'm guessing that would be me....:-)
>
> > I own/operate a comercial operation about a half hour south of
> > Minneapolis, MN in the
> > town of Faribault. I have been frustrated in the past with advertising
> > rates at this time of
> > year and always felt that my gift certificate sales should be doing
> > much better against
> > the Chia Pets! So I opened a kiosk at the Southdale Mall in Edina on
> > Nov 15th and
> > will be there through Dec 31st. Edina is an up-scale suburb of
> > Minneapolis, MN. There
> > are several other malls of similar size in the area, and of course the
> > mega-Mall of America,
> > but I decided the Edina demographic should work best with my
> > particular "product". My
> > wife Kathy and I split the now-11-hour-day at the kiosk and it has
> > been a very interesting
> > experience so far.
>
> > You can see the kiosk here:http://www.crosscountrysoaring.com(then
> > click on "The Gift")
>
> > It's set up with a slide show running on a nice, big HP monitor at one
> > end. At
> > the other we print the certificates and take credit cards. There are
> > big pictures on both
> > sides. Sales are going well. I think we're on track to hit our ride-
> > target by Xmas and I have
> > a slate of new students already. We've also gone through about 1000
> > pieces of literature
> > (business cards, pamphlets) and we've talked to a LOT of people about
> > how the sport
> > works. There can be some major lulls in traffic though, and it's not
> > uncommon to go through
> > two cappuccinos before it picks up again! We are keeping track of
> > people who are Interested, Very
> > Interested, Buyers, Multiple Buyers, Students and Add-on ratings. I
> > plan to write it up for
> > SOARING afterwards for other clubs/commercials operators who might
> > want to try it.
>
> > Kiosks are expensive - especially during the holidays. In this area
> > they 'list' for $3000 to
> > $6000 per month for Nov/Dec. Yeah. Per Month. They're cheap the rest
> > of the year or if you
> > want to sign a lease for a year (nope). But the mall's leasing agents
> > will negotiate rather
> > than risk leaving a kiosk empty and you could get it for less than
> > half that. As you can
> > see I decided to use the natural beauty of the sport, captured in
> > pictures during the season,
> > to promote the rides. I blew up 14 or so and mounted them. The agent
> > was excited at the
> > idea of hanging a glider inside, but then said the holidays were too
> > crazy and it would have
> > to wait till January. Too late for me. Maybe next year. She is willing
> > to hang a model though.
> > (A 4.3 M RC model would look good).
>
> > Anyway - that's about it.
> > Ta-
>
> > Don Ingraham
> >http://www.crosscountrysoaring.com- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Don,

EXCELLENT idea!