Children’s Museum Of Richmond Showcases New Short Pump Location

The Children’s Museum of Richmond unveiled plans and renderings of its new Short Pump location on Monday, scheduled to open in June. The organization has leased 15,500 square feet of space at 2200 Old Brick Road in West Broad Village, across from Whole Foods Market to expand their offerings to Far West End children and […]

March 8, 2010; 1:11 PM • by Trevor Dickerson

The space had already been built out for Books-A-Million, who reversed their decision to open a store in the new mixed use development last year.

Children’s Museum of Richmond President and CEO Karen Coltrane and other staff were on hand Monday at the future location to share plans and renderings of what the space will look like when open, plus explain their thoughts for opening a second location in Short Pump.

“We felt like [Short Pump] would give us the greatest chance of success when considering locations. We looked all over at where people congregate and did some market research. There are a lot of people who say they love the Children’s Museum, but that it’s just not convenient enough,” Coltrane said. She notes that upwards of one-third of all museum members live in the West End, but that the museum seeked out ways to reach a greater percentage of the Short Pump area population for some time. “We figured the most cost-effective way to reach West Enders was to come to them.” Museum staff also hope to attract residents of Chesterfield County because of the new location’s close proximity to Route 288.

Coltrane explains the decision to move towards a branch location strategy partially as a creative funding initiative. “We are an institution dedicated to fostering creativity, so it made sense that we use the innovative thinking of our board, staff and volunteers to devise our own creative solution for the museum’s business challenges. We believe a branching model allows the organization to have much more impact throughout our community by generating more resources for our core mission.” Revenue from the new location will also be used to give less fortunate children access to the downtown location.

Henrico County Manager Virgil Hazelett describes the new location as a welcome addition to the area. “We are delighted to have such a highly regarded non-profit organization whose mission is dedicated to early childhood education come into Henrico County,” Hazelett said. “We see the addition of the services provided by the Children’s Museum of Richmond as a great asset to our county.”

The new location will be known as the Children’s Museum of Richmond-Short Pump, while the original location will be called Richmond-Central. The downtown location will continue to operate as normal with all exhibits, camps, and other programs.

The West Broad Village location will be open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and members will have access to both locations at no additional charge. The non-member rate will remain unchanged at $8 for either location.

Artist’s renderings of the new facility can be seen below.