EVENT NETWORK, LLC
SAN DIEGO, CA

About Event Network Event Network was born in 1998 and began with a store for the Titanic Artifact Exhibition in Boston. Larry Gilbert and Helen Sherman, co-founders of the company, led the effort to create a robust retail offering for Titanic (at the time, a fairly novel concept for museum exhibition retail); and, in the process, planted the seed for what Event Network is today—the leading operator of cultural attraction stores. Event Network is blessed to have several dozen outstanding partnerships with cultural attractions of all kinds. Our partnerships are with art, science, natural history, children’s and cultural museums; zoos; aquariums; gardens; iconic landmarks and historic sites. We are proud to serve millions of cultural attraction guests every year. Event Network’s core purpose is to extend and elevate the guest experience at our partners’ attractions in order to achieve their maximum retail potential. The magic of our business model is in our support structure. We have developed a talented, experienced team that is exclusively focused on merchandising and operating great stores. Successful retail must properly address product, environment, people and systems on a daily basis. We have teams of enthusiastic experts across the various key disciplines of retail—product development and sourcing, store design/planning, visual merchandising, regional operations management, e-commerce/digital, accounting and human resources—that are responsible for enabling our store teams to perform at the highest possible level every day. The goal? To maximize per capita spending and guest satisfaction in our stores on behalf of, and in close collaboration with, our partners. We strongly believe in the notion of being a “for purpose and in service” company, a motto that guides how each and every one of our team members thinks and operates each day. From supporting our partners’ missions and brands, to celebrating and representing local artisans and communities, to ensuring that all product and materials for our store environments are sourced ethically and responsibly, our goal is to provide the best possible experience for each guest that comes through our partners’ doors. We are excited about our first 20 years, but even more so about the future and the opportunity to be in service to our wonderful guests and partners for many years to come! Cultural attractions are an important part of the fabric of our communities, and we are humbled and honored to have the opportunity to work in such fabulous places. It is a responsibility we don’t take lightly, and that sense of responsibility is ingrained in Event Network’s culture and daily operations. Event Network is committed to doing everything possible to have a positive impact on our planet. We work closely with our vendors to minimize the unnecessary use of packaging and other potential waste. We focus on suppliers that support conservation and sustainability initiatives and practices. We are intentional about identifying merchandising opportunities for products derived from sustainable sources or that can be used for sustainable purposes. As further evidence of our significant commitment to conservation, our Store Support Center has recently been converted into a LEED Gold certified building. Our culture is our foundation. It is the compass that guides us toward our complementary goals to deliver the best possible experience for our guests and to maximize revenue for our partners. We understand that every team member, from our part time sales associates to our senior leadership, must work together to achieve these critical objectives. The culture council is a dynamic group. It provides resources and tools to help motivate, communicate and celebrate our culture, CORE values and partnerships to our teams and individual team members…methodically marching together to achieve company and personal performance and growth targets. The culture council helps make the hard work fun! Event Network is an equal opportunity employer. We are proud of the quality of personnel we attract and retain. Event Network maintains an environment free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, where employees treat each other with respect, dignity and courtesy. Ingrained deeply in our company culture is the idea of being “in service.” This applies not only to the manner in which we approach our business partnerships and store operations, but also to how we engage within our local communities. We encourage all team members to take an active role in giving back to their communities. Our store support center in San Diego regularly participates in community events and collection drives, such as Ronald McDonald’s Red Shoe Day, Blood Drives, and Beach Clean-ups (just to name a few). Our store teams also regularly participate in and support community events, often in conjunction with our partners’ charitable efforts. The passion and enthusiasm from our teams combined with the passion to serve have combined to make some very successful and impactful donations and programs. At Event Network, we are inspired to help shape the critically important messaging and public behavior around conservation and sustainability that will determine the near and longer term success of the human race going forward. We are holding ourselves accountable to making significant progress in our merchandising and operations when it comes to sustainability. Conservation, recycling and sustainability have been an inherent part of Event Network’s culture since day one. Our very existence is rooted in a business model whereby we share a significant percentage of our revenue with our non-profit partners—all of whom have some degree of focus on sustainability and conservation. We have collaborated with all our partners and adopted as much as we possibly can of their initiatives and applied it to our retail operations as well as introducing our own programs and initiatives that promote sustainability. We instill the importance of conservation and being environmental stewards in all team members. The approach is simple—ask yourself, “Is [this] the right decision for our partners and for the planet?”