MoMA Design Store Soho

Profile

Decades before Design Within Reach and Moss, there was the MoMA Store, first sited at a small sales desk in the museum's lobby in 1939 and now grown to include an outpost some 50 blocks south. All three branches are designed by Richard Gluckman; at the 11 W. 53rd Street flagship, MoMA Books overlooks the main lobby, a smaller shop on the sixth floor is devoted to temporary exhibitions, and the first-floor space, at nearly 6,000 square feet, offers a collection as painstakingly curated as the museum's artworks. Inventory includes items that complement MoMA's collection (print reproductions, retrospective coffee-table books) alongside beautiful, useful home décor, like oddly shaped table lamps, super-strong magnets, and kitchen gadgets by OXO. Save for the obligatory MoMA-emblazoned T-shirts and paperweights, the shop could almost be mistaken for a design emporium selling stylized versions of everything domestic, from doorstops to spatulas. But lest you MoMentarily forget this is indeed a world class institutional gift shop, merchandise is displayed against stark white walls, with exhibition-style placards that bear titles and brief description. — Kate Jacobs

Registry

The museum shop’s registry program offers quirky housewares like glazed-ceramic teaspoons and rainbow chopstick sets.

Sales

Museum members get 10 percent off at the stores; on special member shopping days, four weekends a year, the discount is doubled to 20 percent.

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