Apr 26, 2007

A Trip to the Gift Shop Is Like a Day at the MuseumBy Mike AlboNew York Times

I have a friend who used to work at the MoMA Design Store in the early ’90s. I remember him telling me that sometimes people would walk in the store, mistake it for Museum of Modern Art itself and stroll around peering at things as if it were a gallery.

One day he’d finally had enough. When someone walked in, looked around and asked, “Can you tell me where the main museum is?”, my friend shrugged and answered, “I don’t know, Maine?”

I bet that doesn’t happen anymore. MoMA has been renovated into glassy, glossy precision and has two sleek, comprehensive stores at street level: the original MoMA Design Store and the MoMA Design and Book Store across the street on the museum’s first floor.

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