Talking shop with Leisure and Culture Dundee
This festive season, Leisure and Culture Dundee’s Paul Campbell is keen to make sure the McManus, Dundee's art gallery and museum, is an essential stop for the city’s Christmas shoppers. We talked to him to learn more about how he approaches retail across three heritage sites.
The modern museum needs to fulfil multiple roles: education, entertainment, culture, community leader. Paul, Engagement Officer at Leisure and Culture Dundee, would also add destination retail to the list.
Paul is responsible for retail and income generation across three Dundee culture and heritage venues: The McManus, Broughty Castle Museum, and Mills Observatory. Each venue caters for a different audience. Located in Dundee’s city centre, the McManus serves the local community with a programme of exhibitions and education but attracts curious tourists too. Mills Observatory is for the astronomy enthusiast, whereas Broughty Castle appeals to a steady stream of family visitors and military history buffs.
This makes Paul’s role extremely varied. And busy. But his focus is on making sure every visitor has a great experience, while bringing in money for these important cultural sites. Income generated through the cafes, events and retail goes back into caring for the city’s vital collections.
“I'm always trying to introduce items in the shop that reflect what's on display.”
“The retail aspect allows us to enhance what you are seeing and learning throughout the museum. I’m always trying to introduce items in the shop that reflect what’s on display. We previously had an exhibition on climate change in the museum. We were able to bring in a range of books covering everything, from toddler board books about why when you finish your juice it goes in the recycling bin, right through to books that are more academic, and everything in between. When someone comes to see the exhibition, we can offer something to them, no matter what level of understanding they’re at.”
“All our venues are free entry, so people aren’t necessarily arriving at our museums with the intention of spending money. You have to put a stock package together that is enticing enough to bring people into the shop. And then think about whether it's good enough value or quality? Is it sufficiently different than what you get anywhere else to make them want to buy these products. That challenge is quite an exciting one,” says Paul.
“It’s great to be able to find multiple books on one platform.”
Books are an essential product for Paul and will be his starting point when it comes to building a product range for any of the shops. Internally, the learning team will then use these books for their in-house workshops that take place for school and community groups.
Bookspeed was already established as a supplier when Paul joined the Leisure and Culture Dundee team. With little buying experience and no book buying experience when he started his role, Paul found Bookspeed to be an invaluable partner.
“Bookspeed has been incredible. When you work across such different museums, it’s great to be able to find multiple books on one platform, through one supplier to give me the base of the stock packages,” he says.
“I think one of the biggest challenges with any retail business, especially museum retail, is knowing when to step away from your winners - those books that have done well for you. You need to be willing to try new books or items to progress the shop. If you’re just going to buy the same things all the time, then anyone can do that. Our Bookspeed Account Manager Caroline is great for spotting new books. That level of support is great for me.”
“We think of ourselves as more of a bespoke retail destination outlet.”
Paul joined Leisure and Culture Dundee from high street retail. As a Dundee-born local, he spotted an opportunity to contribute to the regeneration of his hometown.
"I’m very passionate about the city. The McManus is right at the heart of the city, right in the city centre and I viewed the job as a way to put myself somewhere where I thought I could assist with Dundee's regeneration. Dundee feels that it’s on the up. So to be a part of that is something that I felt I wanted to do."
Since Paul has been in post, retail has perfomed well. But there have been challenges to take on too. Something he’s passionate about is changing people’s perceptions about what a museum shop is.
“You’re always going to be viewed by some as a souvenir shop,” Paul explains. “We don’t see ourselves that way. We’re always going to have the erasers or the pencils with the museum’s name on it but we think of ourselves as more of a bespoke retail destination outlet. We want people to think of The McManus as a place to come and pick up a unique gift or something meaningful.”
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