Record museum visitor count, but low gift shop sales at the Nolan Center

Now that the tourist season has come to a close, the Nolan Center looks back on a successful year as it prepares for a winter of community events and holiday festivities.

In 2023, the Nolan Center had a record year for tour visitors and museum pass sales. Museum passes brought in around $13,000 more than what Nolan Center Director Cyni Crary had anticipated, for a total of around $50,000.

The center is also on track to meet or exceed its projected $15,000 in event revenues.

"We're booked," said Crary. Income from events at the facility "definitely increased a lot."

The community theater has been a particularly lucrative addition in recent years, starting with "The Sound of Music" in December 2022 and "Annie" in May 2023. The musicals are "a huge revenue surge for us," said Crary.

For its upcoming December production of "Cinderella," the Nolan Center is collaborating with businesses to pay for the license for a full-length script and elaborate costumes.

Gift shop sales, however, haven't experienced the same boost. Though sales have been on the rise since the pandemic, they haven't yet bounced back to 2019 levels.

In the past, the shop has made as much as $80,000 to $90,000, but this year it "didn't (reach) what we had hoped for," Crary said.

She guesses that tourists are seeking cheaper gifts or are rushing to get to their next tour location and don't have time to peruse the shop's offerings.

"I think that people are buying just less expensive things, things that are easy to take in their suitcase," she said. Also, "the tours these days go a little faster. The customers don't get a lot of time to spend."

She hopes that as the number of tour visitors continues to increase, gift shop sales will increase in kind, even if each tourist only gets to glance at the merchandise.

Crary made a variety of decor and inventory updates this year to keep the shop fresh, with a focus on adding books and local goods.

Most of the books in the store are about Alaska or Wrangell history, but she has recently expanded into nonfiction books on relevant local topics, like herbs, plant life, geology and cooking.

"We definitely tend to be a gift shop that more of the tourism industry sees," she said, "but we are definitely here for locals too. We have what I consider the best bookstore in town."

Like movie theaters across the country post-COVID, revenue from movies at the Nolan Center is also down.

"We have been trying to get the excitement going again," said Crary. "With a blockbuster hit like 'Barbie,' we do really well," but some of the facility's less popular showings attract audiences in the single digits.

"That's obviously not feasible," she added. If these trends persist, the center might have to consider cutting film screenings or contracting them out. "It's a big job and if we don't get the attendance, it's a lot of work."