Back when I worked there, the shop director supported her friends. We carried the ultra-expensive jewelry her friend made but weren't really open to jewelry made by other locals. She wouldn't take free stock to sell. She DID have limited space at the time so I could see being selective but the postcards she had made I would have rejected in the proof stage from licensees because the colors were WAY off. Today the postcards were just as wretched.

It must be a fine line to walk between affordable and original. Houston is a little easier because we aren't a tourist center; you're unlikely to find cheap tourist stuff anywhere near the museum. The new museum shop IS a gorgeous retail space and they had some clever items. I spend too much money whenever I'm in the Met store and I spent quite a bit at the J.P. Morgan Library and the Art Institute of Chicago. Nothing I bought in those stores was a replica of anything I saw but they were in the style of items I saw and enjoyed. I assume they must sell enough to continue stocking those items so maybe I'm the odd shopper? It wouldn't be the first time.