8 Twin Cities museum gift shops rated

The Star Tribune scoured Twin Cities gift shops, searching for the most unique, best and quirkiest items. Some of these gift shops will satisfy holiday shoppers, too. If you’re shopping at a gift shop, you don’t need to pay museum admission ― but you may still have to pay for parking.

Rating: Five stars

The museum’s huge independently run gift shop is filled with holiday deals and souvenirs for science geeks, space nerds and the person looking for quirky stuff. Here you’ll find magnets in the shape of human teeth, a hammerhead shark backpack, colorful socks with raccoons exploring the desert and the trash, edible crickets and many Minnesota-themed postcards. Parking is $15. (10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun., Tue.-Thu., 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, store.smm.org or 651-221-9414)

Rating: Four stars

The gift shop carries items about Minnesota nature, local Indigenous history and the current Julia Childs exhibition. There’s a strong selection of jewelry by Cynthia Holmes (St. Croix Ojibwe) and cute Minnesota license plate-themed keychains with mostly generic Midwestern names on them. If food is your thing, grab a pair of chicken drumstick-shaped kitchen sponges or a baguette-shaped candle.

Rating: Four stars

At Mia’s gift shop, discover floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with chunky, hardcover art books, cases of jewelry by local and national artists and plenty of creative options for artsy kids. Choose from affordable gifts like magnets, posters and postcards and pricier options like “The Veiled Lady” as a candle, hefty art books, miniature painting kits, fancy jewelry and warm sweatshirts. Colorful small resin reproductions of famous sculptures like Venus de Milo and Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker give people a chance to bring art home. There’s great variety here, and you’ll be able to find something, whether it’s for practical or art use.

This store sells everything Swedish and gives off that cozy winter vibe, but it’s not as packed as usual. A sign at the front of the store notes that shipping delays and tariffs have affected many of the shop’s vendors. At the store’s flower shop, choose from more than 15 varieties of felt flowers. Find plenty of typical gifts like coffee cups, books, playing cards, soaps and jewelry and unique items like a travel cribbage board, handcrafted wooden kitchenware and artwork by Swedish and Finnish artists. (10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tue., Wed., Fri.-Sun., 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thu., 2600 Park Av., Mpls., 612-871-4907 or asimn.org)

Rating: Four stars

This delightful gem of a gift shop is hidden away at the back of the museum on the second floor. If you can find it, you’ll discover wildly surprisingly photo books like “Holidays in Soviet Sanatoriums” (currently 50% off), delicately painted egg-shaped glass ornaments from Ukraine and matryoshka painted as snowmen, Russian women and even tiny Santas. Stock up on Russian pickles, too. This unique gift shop is a true find in sea of holiday consumer slop. (10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., 5500 Stevens Av., Mpls., 612-821-9045 ext. 2000 or tmora.org/shop)

Rating: Three stars

At this small but mighty gift shop, find the artsy gift you need: socks with famous artworks embroidered into them, handmade throw blankets and a highly competitive word game called Fighting Words. Watch out, Scrabble! Some other standout items include cute goofy Labubu stickers for less than $5, soft throw blankets, pencils with “I love art” written in five languages, Japanese fruit-shaped erasers, cat-shaped candles, hardcover art books, a lot of jewelry, keychains and more. There are many smaller affordable gifts for friends and siblings, but not as many heartier holiday options for parents or grandparents. (10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun., wam.umn.edu/wam-shop or 612-625-9495)

It’s almost too easy to walk right past this corner of the museum that doubles as a gift shop. The art books here mostly correspond to Walker exhibitions, as do the majority of the stickers. The black T-shirts, hats, baby onesies and sweatshirts with “Closed Mondays” on the front are a funny nod to museums typically being closed that day, but even that could be updated — the Walker is now closed Monday and Tuesday. The store could use some help expanding beyond Walker logo items and knickknacks. (10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed., Fri.-Sun., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thu., 612-253-3402 or walkerart.org)

Rating: One star