Press Release: Museum Store Set to Open
New “Clinton Museum Store” to open in Little Rock's River Market District and Revitalize Downtown Retail.
Thursday afternoon, November 11, Skip Rutherford, president of the William J. Clinton Foundation, welcomed news media for the first glimpse of the Clinton Museum Store which is in its final days of set-up and preparation. “This is the first store of its kind in the presidential library system,” Rutherford said, “and it is much, much more than a gift shop.”
The Clinton Museum Store, located at 610 President Clinton Avenue in Little Rock, will open to the public this Saturday, November 13, five days before the Dedication and Opening of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park. The Museum Store is located in a transformed former warehouse in downtown Little Rock between the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park and Little Rock's Museum of Discovery and the location gives the store a unique sense of history, art, light and space.
The Clinton Museum Store's director is Little Rock fashion designer and retailer Connie Fails, a longtime friend of the former President and Senator Clinton.
“The store is styled like a gallery,” explained Fails, “and it truly opens its arms to everyone.”
Just as the Clinton Presidential Center reinvents the way presidential libraries are designed, the Clinton Museum Store is unlike any other presidential library retail space.
“No one will mistake the shop for a souvenir stand,” said Fails, pointing out the well-chosen selection of merchandise ranging from children's board games with historical themes to china and crystal with presidential themes.
The store's most expensive item, at almost $5,000, is a custom table by New Orleans artist Thomas Mann, while the least expensive items are 25-cent postcards and a $1 souvenir commissioned by Fails-a quartz crystal “diamond” from President Clinton's childhood hometown of Hot Springs, Arkansas, with the attached legend “This 'diamond' represents the power of every man, woman and child to reach their greatest potential no matter how humble their beginnings.”
Also, on every level, the entire project was conceived to reflect the president whom it honors, his interests and legacy. The location itself in a renovated building, the former Brandon House Warehouse, was chosen to help further the thriving revitalization of retail in downtown Little Rock, while the second floor of the warehouse is now headquarters for City Year Little Rock, a community service organization which is also a favorite of President Clinton's. Much of the merchandise is deliberately selected to reflect the ethnic and regional diversity of America. Many of the goods chosen by Fails are produced by a diverse group of small businesses and artisans from the region, with the intention of economically empowering them.
Beginning Saturday, November 13, The Clinton Museum Store will be open from 10:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. on Sunday.
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