We were lucky to catch up with Kimberly Wick recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kimberly , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Tell me the story behind your mission and why your mission is important to you?
The Wick family owns the largest Broadway costume collection in the country, and our mission is to preserve these historic garments so generations to come will be able to appreciate the legacy of the shows, performers, and costume designers who defined the era.

As children, my sister Kelly and I asked my mom, Marilynn Wick, for a project so we could earn a little money. My mom suggested we make Santa suits, and it was a huge success! Soon, we were making a variety of costumes for holidays and events, and this is how Costume World was launched from our kitchen table!

During the years, we purchased a variety of historic costumes, but in 2005, we made a game-changing purchase buying the inventory of the historic Dodger Costumes in New York. There was a very tight timeline, just 10 days, to pack up over a half a million signature costumes from many of America’s award winning Broadway musicals and plays such as Guys and Dolls, King & I, The Music Man, Hello Dolly, Cats, Camelot, Les Miserables and so many more.

This purchase made Costume World the nation’s largest owner of Broadway and theatrical costumes with over 1.2 million in total!

This privilege is also a responsibility we are fully committed to as we lovingly restored these historic garments worn by iconic stars. For example, the gown Julie Andrews wore in My Fair Lady, is one of the cherished pieces in our collection.

Our mission, and really our passion, is to provide the guests who visit our museum with an incredible experience to learn, to be inspired and to be entertained!

Kimberly , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For Readers who do not know you, Tell us what you do and what sets you apart?
My role as the curator for the Museum is to develop the theme for each season’s exhibition. From there, I begin researching our vast catalogue of costumes looking for the best representations of the concept we are presenting.

For the past ten years we have kicked off each season with different themes such as
Those were the Days–A Salute to the 50’s and 60’s, Bling– Liberace and All that Sparkles, The Roaring 20’s, to name a few.

Each exhibit includes hundreds of costumes as well as historic photographic and video references from each era. Backstage stories and cabaret performances along with a three-course luncheon round out the experience.

In 2021, we introduced our audience to a new immersive 360-degree video experience. Each summer we build our immersive video displays, conduct interviews, curate and research the costumes, edit historic film footage and music. All this, to ensure the experience is cohesive and interesting whilst we share what we love most…the costumes.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Share a story of a time that you have to pivot in your career or in the business?

I alluded to a design change we created for the Museum above, but it was actually a very large pivot for us. We wanted to create a more dynamic and immersive experience for guests, and having seen the Van Gogh Experience, we were very impressed by the use of massive immersive video screens. We felt this was a good paradigm for us as people love this type of presentation, and it also allows us to create a film that will preserve a slice of Broadway history for years to come.

It was a tremendous undertaking and investment for us as we completely renovated the Museum, installing floor-to-ceiling video screens along with state-of-the-art computers, and audio-visual systems, in order to create the magic!

We launched the new immersive experience last year with Ascot, which brought guests on an immersive historic journey through the creation of My Fair Lady. And this year, we have kicked off with Dancing Feet, which is a toe-tapping tribute to some of the most iconic dance routines in Broadway history.

This shift also allowed us to create a stunning dining experience within the venue, hence the name change from The Wick Costume Museum to The Wick Museum Club.

When guests come to the Museum Club, they enjoy a fabulous luncheon, the immersive video experience, the costumes on display, a Cabaret performance and a tour of our theatre, including the backstage area to see all the behind-the-scenes elements.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Share a story of Resilience
I think any business owner would attest to the resolve that one must have to be in business for 50 years. Our journey is all about resilience, perseverance and commitment. My Mother, Marilynn, chose a non-conventional business that she loved and made it into something special that has endured when all others thought it would fail.
The Costume business as a whole is a long considered dead-end business and owning a theatre was left only for the wealthy. We are neither. We have pivoted and evolved in the costume business by immersing ourselves in every order. Always striving to make the client happy no matter how small or how large the order is.
When Covid stopped the assembly of large groups, we reimagined our Lobby to socially distance about 40 or so guests and had dinner and cabaret evenings. Therefore, we had some income and employed some of our local stars. The Covid Cabarets were one of the inspirations for the new Museum Club. And our guests love it! If you can’t figure out how to make lemonade out of lemons…you should probably get out of the way or you will be run over by the lemon truck. Life is all about the journey and we are constantly re-inventing ourselves—learning every step of the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thewick.org
• Instagram: @thewicktheatre
• Facebook: @thewicktheatre
• Twitter: @thewicktheatre
• Youtube: the wick theatre

Image Credits
Amy Pasquantonio