Liza Nelson
Museum Shop Manager
Art Museum
Liza Nelson is a graduate of Middlebury College with a BA in Art History, and did not intend to make a career in specialty retail. One college summer as a volunteer at the National Audubon camp on Hog Island ME, however, I ran my first small shop and made a hot seller out of "weed pots" by filling them with wildflowers on the dining tables. After college, I ran North Country Textiles (wholesale hand weavers) retail outlet in Penobscot ME and then spent 13 years with the publisher DeLorme Mapping in Freeport ME. During my time there, SmartMoney magazine noted that Delorme's Map Store was "one of the country's best" and United Airlines featured it in their magazine. While working full-time at DeLorme, I also earned an MA in American and New England Studies from USM. There is an intellectual aspect to selling maps as well as art books and in both for-profit and non-profit environments the specialty retail challenge remains finding merchandise that is both relevant and salable.