Metro gifts — anybody buying?
Like other major transit systems, WMATA sells a line of merchandise. The online store includes, maps, mugs, trinkets, and the “Metro at 25″ coffee table book, among other things. Also available are black t-shirts from a few stations; Archives - Navy Memorial, College Park - U of MD, Metro Center, Pentagon, Shaw - Howard U, Smithsonian, Union Station. Customizable t-shirts, mugs, and mousepads are available for all stations, but the t-shirts are white instead of solid black.
While NYC Subway t-shirts have their fans (I have seen people wearing them in at least three cities not named New York), I have yet to see anyone with a Metro one. I wonder why this is — lack of history/cachet of WMATA? Nobody knows that you can buy an Medical Center t-shirt? No stands in stations (a la Boston’s T) or elsewhere, like museum gift shops? You can’t get the coveted Medical Center t-shirt in black?
Would get your neighborhood’s Metro station t-shirt?
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And devling more into it… white shirts are $18.95 but the much cooler black shirts are $16. Cuff links are cool though.
I filled out the Contact Us form for the store inquiring about why the cooler black t-shirts were only available for a few stations and all I got back was a “thank you for your input, we are looking at making changes, blah, blah, blah.”
The DC Metro’s not a destination. It’s way smaller than the NY subway or London Tube, both of which have very successful merchandise (”Mind the Gap”!). I’ve never seen a Metro T-Shirt selling alongside “Future President” or “Witness Protection Agency - You Don’t Know Me” from downtown souvenir vendors, either.
I think they’d have a little more cache if we could replicate “Mind the Gap” somehow. What’s our slogan? “Hey, is that your bag?”
Our slogan is the “ding dong - doors closing, please stand clear of the doors.” But how do you recreate the “ding dong” (the best part of it) on a t-shirt?
Well I actually like the black Metro Center shirt - retro and insider (who else has one?) but I can’t justify the cost, not when Threadless has The Flat House for $10 or Mozilla has the Black Greyscale Firefox for $14
I would like a shirt with Vienna on the front and Farragut West on the back to signify my trip everyday.
Re-thinking about buying a shirt, but Metro doesn;t make it easy. $7.95 for shipping!! You have to be kidding me!
I’m gonna head down to Metro Center instead & see if they have the shirts there.
I’d love to have some t-shirts for the stations that I frequent, as well as the neighborhood where I work in. I think that they are unique, and pretty damn cool.
I’m just not that impressed with the white t-shirts that are available for all stations, and none of the black shirts (which I think look damn good) are of the stations that I want.
Come on Metro!