The space formerly housing the café at Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA) has transformed into something far more interesting. To step inside the new, extended dance version of the OKCMOA Store is to step into a world of pure imagination, dotted with beautiful objects created by the likes of Dale Chihuly and Jonathan Adler, served up alongside sparkling flutes of Champagne and fairytale-grade pastries crafted by Ganache Patisserie. (Pastry) case in point: the MOA Tart’s pistachio frangipane with dark cherries, milk chocolate ganache, raspberries and gold spark. 

 The Ganache + Museum Store collab is a fanciful, artful, delicious solution to an equation OKCMOA has been puzzling over for years. How to offer visitors refreshment without the challenge of being a restaurateur? The museum had tried four or five different business models and partnered with some of our city’s most venerated hospitality groups, but the code seemed uncrackable, even as the Downtown/Midtown restaurant scene blossomed.

All the while, just down the hall, the Museum Store was quietly and increasingly generating buzz — and revenue — under the direction of Richard Bruner, a man with a career in merchandising spanning more than a quarter-century. “I was actually hired as a freelancer to come in and merchandise the store,” he says, “so I've been at the museum for about seven and a half years. The first six months, I was not on staff. I’d talked to the director at the time, and … he was interested in trying to make the store more of an earned income piece of the museum instead of just the ‘exit through the gift shop.’ So I came in and I started looking at merchandise, flows and adjacencies, dollars per square foot and demographic, and kind of figuring out how to actually get it on the map as far as revenue.”

The Store performed. “And that is what has allowed us to take over this space. When we decided to exit the restaurant business, I was looking at the space. At the time, we had just landed the Jonathan Adler account, which was two years in the making, and I had already started moving some pieces in just to trim out some of the areas of the restaurant,” Bruner says. Running the bar was another piece of the puzzle, as was figuring out how to feed visitors enough — but not too much. Bruner jokes, “I'm used to being on the other side of the bar. But it's such a beautiful space. And it's so clean and modern and full of air and space. It just felt right. And so we talked with our CEO, and it was such a quick decision.” 

He had a little more than a month to move the store to its grand new spot. Kismet stepped in, in the form of Bruner’s husband, Michael, who is the visual director for Macy’s at Penn Square, and who had access to a warehouse filled with fixtures which he helped curate for Bruner’s use. “There are several tables that I'm using now that actually are handbag tables that had Michael Kors on them. Macy's just really came through.”

Next task? Wooing the folks at Ganache, already established in Chisholm Creek. “We wanted to offer something that wasn't broad, but we wanted it to be the best in its category. And Ganache is the best at what they do in Oklahoma City. As far as pastries, patisserie, sweet and savory options for a coffee or a tea — they own it. And it just felt right, that they should be in the Museum Store,” Bruner says. To his knowledge, OKCMOA is the only museum shop/wine bar/coffee shop tribrid in the country.

It’s also quickly becoming a global epicenter for collectors of Chihuly and Adler pieces, with a heavy smattering of local artists’ work (OKC artist Clint Stone designed the current T-shirt), jewelry, accessories, self-care and gifts at every price point, right down to museum-branded pencils, intentionally budget friendly for visiting schoolchildren.

Next task? Wooing the folks at Ganache, already established in Chisholm Creek. “We wanted to offer something that wasn't broad, but we wanted it to be the best in its category. And Ganache is the best at what they do in Oklahoma City. As far as pastries, patisserie, sweet and savory options for a coffee or a tea — they own it. And it just felt right, that they should be in the Museum Store,” Bruner says. To his knowledge, OKCMOA is the only museum shop/wine bar/coffee shop tribrid in the country.  

It’s also quickly becoming a global epicenter for collectors of Chihuly and Adler pieces, with a heavy smattering of local artists’ work (OKC artist Clint Stone designed the current T-shirt), jewelry, accessories, self-care and gifts at every price point, right down to museum-branded pencils, intentionally budget friendly for visiting schoolchildren.    

“When we started selling Jonathan Adler, I didn't realize that the Adler customer was also a Chihuly customer. So there have been several instances where we have sold a Jonathan Adler credenza, and then a Chihuly piece of glass that will sit on that credenza.” Bruner said his clients are visual people who make Adler or Chihuly their own, from wherever they are in the world. “We've shipped to Palm Springs, Palm Beach, Boston, Chicago, New York City, Beverly Hills. And then we've also shipped to Australia, Germany, the U.K. I had no idea. I had no idea the reach that it was going to hit. And it's just been phenomenal. 

Naturally, he’s on call to help clients find the perfect spot for their new pretties, should they need it. “In fact, one of the pieces that I went to help a client with is a beautiful silver piece by Jonathan Adler, and you would think when you look at it that it would be in Palm Beach or Palm Springs. She put it underneath a beautiful, almost Renaissance, painting that has a huge gold leaf frame. The whole thing became this Byzantine moment. It went from what one might think of [as] midcentury, and it all sudden became European. It was stunning. Absolutely stunning.”

We like stunning. If you do, too, do yourself a favor: Next time you find yourself between meetings downtown, take a break from the humdrum and pop in on Bruner and his merrymakers at the Museum Store. Browse. Peruse. Pick up a pastry, some prosecco and find a spot on the patio some sunny fall afternoon. We’ll see you there.