"Exit through the gift shop, please"

When it comes to gift giving in Upstate New York, whether for a birthday, special occasion, Christmas, or other times, most people head to a gift shop on Main Street in their home towns, or head to the marketplaces online.  A lot of times they are missing a wonderful gift opportunity right in their own back yards.  The museums, big and small, which are all over the Upstate New York map!

And boy do they ever have fantastic gift shops!

I have traveled thousands of miles around Upstate over the last decade, writing guide books and doing research.  Whenever I visit a museum, I head to the gift store for a trinket or book to remind me of my visit.  I have a T-shirt that says "Jell-O" on it from the Jell-O Museum in Leroy, NY; I have an all metal kazoo from the Kazoo Museum in Eden, NY; I have a photo book of the history of West Point from our military academy's gift store; and I have a wonderful sack of "precious stones" from both Howe Caverns and the Herkimer Diamond Mine gift stores.  And a whole lot more.

Here is a collection of fantastic gift shops found in some great museums all across Upstate New York.  We encourage you to consider them the next time you are stumped looking for a gift for a friend or family member.

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