The long awaited answer to a lingering question is “yes.” When the new 9/11 museum was opened last week it turned out that it does have a gift shop. And, yes, it is a stereotypical tourist attraction gift shop. With tacky — some say tasteless — items. And, the New York Post reports, some 9/11 victim families are outraged:
The 9/11 museum’s cavernous boutique offers a vast array of souvenir goods. For example: FDNY, NYPD and Port Authority Police T-shirts ($22) and caps ($19.95); earrings molded from leaves and blossoms of downtown trees ($20 to $68); cop and firefighter charms by Pandora and other jewelers ($65); “United We Stand” blankets.
There are bracelets, bowls, buttons, mugs, mousepads, magnets, key chains, flags, pins, stuffed animals, toy firetrucks, cellphone cases, tote bags, books and DVDs.
And because no tourist would be a good pet owner if he didn’t have a 9/11 souvenir for Poochie:
Even FDNY vests for dogs come in all sizes.
No word yet if there’s a litter box with Osbama bin Laden’s face on the bottom, or George W. Bush drink coasters.
Will there be a nose-hair trimmer shaped like a fire engine?
(See a video on the controversy HERE
“To me, it’s the crassest, most insensitive thing to have a commercial enterprise at the place where my son died,” Diane Horning said.
She and husband Kurt never recovered the remains of their son Matthew, 26, a database administrator for Marsh & McLennan and an aspiring guitarist.
About 8,000 unidentified body parts are now stored out of sight in a “remains repository” at the museum’s underground home.
“Here is essentially our tomb of the unknown. To sell baubles I find quite shocking and repugnant,” said Horning, who also objects to the museum cafe.
“I think it’s a money-making venture to support inflated salaries, and they’re willing to do it over my son’s dead body.”….NY POST
It’s truly seems like a Mad Magazine satire when you read the list of other items: hoodies with the motif of darkness and the twin towers…Silk scarves with the NYC skyline…A scarf with “Lunchtime at WTC”
What well-dressed person wouldn’t want to go to dinner with a WTC themed scarf? What teen wouldn’t want to wear a hoodie with a 9/11 theme?
The Post also notes that heart shaped rocks with slogans on them are sold, plus this must-own item:”A leaf ornament molded from the swamp white oaks at the memorial is said to change from amber to dark brown ‘and sometimes pink around the time of the 9/11 anniversary.'”
Is there a Twin Towers iPhone cover yet? It’d make a great bar mitzvah gift.
How about a First Responder can opener?
How about a wine opener shaped like the first tower?
How about showing some taste and removing all the crass items?
The 9/11 memorial gift shop is no better than the hucksters who sold crap outside the gaping hole in the ground in 2001.
— Michele Catalano (@inthefade) May 19, 2014
September 11 Memorial *PETITION* 2 close the 9/11 Museum Gift Shop http://t.co/qrNvOkoDEr … … @Rare
— Occupy Bawl Street (@OccupyBawlStree) May 19, 2014
Do you think a gift shop is inappropriate in the 9/11 museum? #SocialSquare RT @MandiMata: it's disrespectful, all the way around
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 19, 2014
Good morning from Ground Zero. Now on @GMA: Some 9/11 families are furious about a gift shop in bldg w/ human remains pic.twitter.com/SUqYuyzVWT
— Gio Benitez (@GioBenitez) May 19, 2014
9/11 museum gift shop that sells fridge magnets and stuffed animals is branded crass http://t.co/ieFhguJSep pic.twitter.com/hC26PWjdbv
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 19, 2014
9/11 museum gift shop: What a crass display of rampant American consumerism and greed! Reprehensible. http://t.co/UV3a3VIiIm
— Charlie White (@charlie_white) May 18, 2014
People are being really critical of the 9/11 Museum gift shop but honestly, my Pearl Harbor snow globe is one of my most prized possessions.
— Matt Goldich (@MattGoldich) May 18, 2014
9/11 gift shop item: “Darkness Hoodie” The Pullover reads: “In Darkness We Shine Brightest" $39. http://t.co/BXVcIKzQLe #disgusting
— Fully Altered Media (@fullyaltered) May 18, 2014
The new 9/11 Museum includes a souvenir gift shop over the tomb of 8,000 unidentified body parts. Apparently dignity is not for sale.
— Amanda Mancino (@Manda_like_wine) May 18, 2014
"I got it at the 9/11 gift shop" should never be uttered by a person. And yet, here we are.
— ___ (@nokamber) May 18, 2014
9/11 museum gift shop’s 'crass' souvenirs spark outrage. What outrages me is the unaffordable admission cost, http://t.co/UheOvvdS2U
— Neil Russo (@neilinozone) May 18, 2014
9/11 museum gift shop is just SICK CAPITALISM. Who will buy this crap? #making$onthedead
http://t.co/hJ6j8Agjwr
— Pat Sanchez (@patlks5757) May 18, 2014
Fancy a 9/11 mouse mat? What about World Trade Centre cufflinks? All available at the twin towers memorial gift shop.http://t.co/K7hK9KWgOu
— Johny (@johnycassidy) May 16, 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL-eiJfl94A
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.