Museum Store Sunday returns November 29, offering a chance to find unique gifts while directly supporting cultural institutions across Southern California and beyond. The annual event, now in its tenth year, provides an alternative to traditional post-Thanksgiving shopping, encouraging residents to explore what local museum stores have to offer.
Organized by the Museum Store Association, the initiative features special deals, gifts with purchase, and unique shopping events. These offerings go beyond typical holiday markdowns, often including meet-the-maker events, book signings, trunk shows, and workshops. The aim is to help shoppers discover distinctive, museum-inspired gifts while bolstering the institutions, artists, and local makers behind them.
This year marks the event’s tenth anniversary, and to celebrate, organizers have introduced their first-ever Holiday Gift Guide. This digital collection showcases 168 products from more than 80 museum stores. The guide is conveniently organized into 14 categories, designed to help shoppers find items for specific interests, such as art lovers, nature and garden enthusiasts, cooking aficionados, and design fans.
Since its inception in 2017, Museum Store Sunday has seen significant growth. It began with 670 participating cultural institutions and has expanded to include over 2,360 museum stores across all 50 states, 25 countries, and five continents. This expansion reflects a growing interest in supporting museums through retail, with a 2025 shopper survey from the Museum Store Association indicating that 93 percent of respondents said participating in the event made them more likely to shop at museum stores throughout the year.
For shoppers in Los Angeles looking to participate, the best starting point is the official Museum Store Sunday locator. This online tool lists participating stores in the area and details their specific offers. While the event is widespread, individual discounts and promotions can vary by location, so checking ahead is recommended to plan a shopping itinerary. Shoppers can also browse the new Holiday Gift Guide online before heading out to stores.
The event, which takes place exclusively on Sunday, November 29, provides an opportunity for Southern Californians to engage with their local cultural scene in a new way, putting their holiday spending toward institutions that enrich the community.
