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Map It Out: Turn Your Store into a Tourist Destination
June 04, 2025
Let’s be honest: Tourists don’t accidentally stumble into great shops. They’re drawn in by feelings, visuals, or subtle signage that resonates with their hearts. A vintage vibe that stimulates core memories can also draw people in.
For shop owners, museum store managers, and independent retailers looking to turn curious tourists into paying, posting, repeat customers, it’s time to put your shop on the map—not just as a store but as a must-visit destination.
Here are a few easy ways to invite passersby to step into your store, stay for a while, and spend some money.
1. Put Your Shop on the Literal Map
Vintage maps serve as décor that doubles as an emotional magnet. They tap into travelers' love for places, history, and a sense of belonging. Whether it's a 1930s map of your city or a quirky mid-century highway guide, they can tell your shop's story within the broader context of your town or region.
Wholesale Tip: Stock framed or unframed vintage maps of your city, state, and nearby attractions. Offer postcard and magnet versions for the low-lift souvenir sale and larger art prints for those with a suitcase and wall space waiting to be filled.
2. Curate Visual Local History
Tourists often savor local flavors through fun, dynamic, and vibrant visuals. Vintage landscapes, WPA-style travel posters, and old-school tourism ads on greeting cards are excellent ways to “teach” your region’s history to summer visitors. These items offer digestible stories of where they've been and make perfect mementos to share when they return home.
Wholesale Tip: Create a “Local Legends” wall or table featuring city-centric vintage prints, postcards, stickers, and magnets of iconic landmarks, old streetcars, retro diners, or even long-gone amusement parks. Extra points for creating mini-collections that encourage bundling for easy-to-grab souvenirs.
3. Turn Postcards into a Photo Op
Today’s travelers document as much as they shop. Inspire them to grab their phones with a creatively curated, vintage-inspired corner. Hang a colorful backdrop, vintage-style neon sign, or even a quirky cardboard cutout of a 1950s tourist they can pose with.
Wholesale Tip: Use products as part of your decor! Create rotating displays that double as Instagram backdrops. Bonus tip: Use a shop-related hashtag and encourage tagging for a chance to win a print or postcard.
4. Sign of the Times
Smart, story-driven signage connects tourists to your products and place. Add placards that identify the item’s origin, such as “Las Vegas Club on Fremont Street, circa 1930, making it one of the oldest casinos in the city.” These small details create something shoppers love—a sense of authenticity and connection.
Wholesale Tip: Ask your vintage art supplier (that’s us!) for image background info, dates, and origin stories to help build product cards and signage that speak directly to curious customers.
Make Your Store the Memory
With vintage postcards mailed home, map prints rolled into carry-ons, calendars to flip through back at the hotel, or stickers clinging to water bottles, your shop becomes part of travelers’ stories.
Would you like help building your own “local legends” collection? Need a map of your city from 1910, 1940, or maybe even the year of its founding? We’re all over it. Because paper gifts don’t just sit on a shelf. They spark nostalgia, start conversations, and can help put your store on the map.
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