Abstract

A museum and art gallery experience study reveals that visitors view shop spaces as an integral part of the experience during a visit, therefore having the ability to support and expand the on-site and continued learning experience, rather than acting purely as souvenir shops, generating memories after the event. Museum and gallery shops, it would seem, could aid in the construction of meaningful, personal visit mythologies in an immersive, self-developmental event, corresponding to co-creative retail theory. It is proposed that shop spaces should be more integrated within a holistic (gestalt) designed visitor experience orientation than is apparent from impressions to be gained from the museum experience literature of a gap between curators and shop operation. For integration purposes, it is recommended that the shop space should be included in the provision of a mix of spatial types, each featuring differentiated qualities or characteristics. All spaces should be considered in a complimentary manner to deliver a synergistic balance of holistic socio-cultural-economic experience and flow for each visitor type, including the contribution of creative retail spaces. Key words: shops; space; design; co-creation; leisure; learning; commerciality.