The Old City Hall/Museum of Toronto Shop could become the first museum shop in history to exist before its museum's creation!
Toronto History Museums already have an online shop at: https://cityoftoronto.myshopify.com/ which the OCH/MoT Shop can add to.
Ideas for potential, unique products in the OCH/MoT Shop based on antique and vintage Toronto commercial art reproductions can be found at this writer's other site: www.caribouconcepts.com.Â
Up to a quarter of museum revenues come from gift shops. They also shape visitors' expectations about what they will see in the museum (see: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/7/18072114/museum-gift-shops-art-money).
Inspiration for the OCH/MoT Gift Shop can come from all over.
First are the benchmark shops of the Museum of London https://museumoflondonshop.co.uk/ and the Museum of the City of New York https://shop.mcny.org/. The Museum of Toronto's shop can't match these in size but it can match their quality -- and come up with innovations of its own.
Next is the value of an architect-designed space which adds to the pleasure of shopping. The Art Gallery of Ontario's spacious, two-level shop is the result of Frank Gehry's redesign of the front of the building in 2004-2008. If the OCH / MoT Shop is created in a room or rooms with false ceilings removed so that E. J. Lennox's original, soaring ceilings with architectural details can be appreciated, this will be an architect-enhanced shopping experience as well.
Two other superb Toronto museum shops are inspiring because of their well-curated assortment of goods which reflect the nature of their collections: the Textile Museum of Canada (see: https://shop.textilemuseum.ca/) and the Gardiner Museum https://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/store/.
For the best all-Toronto shopping, nothing beats Spacing Media's "Spacing" Store at: https://spacingstore.ca/. Its latest delightful Toronto history book is a celebration of antique and vintage Toronto commercial art: "Packaged Toronto: A Collection Of The City's Historic Design" by publisher Matthew Blackett and senior or former senior staff with Toronto History Museums: Wayne Reeves and Alexandra Avdichuk.