Shoppers Buy One for the Gipper : Reagan library: Gift store is full of memorabilia honoring the former President. Sales staff expects a busy holiday season.

The Republicans just lost the White House. Historians are attacking Ronald Reagan’s economic theories and questioning the direction of his leadership in the 1980s. In some circles, the Teflon President is finally getting scuffed.

But in the hills overlooking Simi Valley, in the spacious gift shop next to the colorful museum that pays tribute to Reagan, the former President is still flashing his sunniest movie-star smile.

It’s there on the covers of his autographed books, selling for $50 apiece. It’s on the $1.25 key rings that read “California Is Reagan Country.”

Nearby, his distinctive signature graces golf balls, yo-yos, playing cards, coffee mugs and necktie clasps.

Welcome to the gift shop at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, a treasure trove of memorabilia honoring the 40th President and his First Lady.

With the traditional opening today of the holiday shopping season, the store’s salespeople say they expect their cash registers to be even busier than usual.

For die-hard Reagan buffs, the shop provides stocking stuffers galore, one-of-a-kind gifts that will probably never surface at the local shopping mall.

For the cowboy in the family, how about a $29.50 brass belt buckle depicting a bucking horse and rider in front of the White House? The inscription on the front boasts, “The Buckaroo Stops Here,” while Reagan offers “Best Wishes” on the back.

Shoppers with more refined tastes might prefer the $110 pewter plate bearing the etched signatures of the five American Presidents who took part in the library’s historic opening ceremony last year.

Each piece of merchandise was selected by Doris Fields Heller, the former Beverly Hills department store manager who oversees the gift shop. Heller says she measured each item against three yardsticks.

“It had to represent the office of the President of the United States,” she explained. “Second, it had to represent the man called Ronald Reagan. Third, it had to represent history--or I did not select it.”

The gift shop is part of the 153,000-square-foot Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs. During its first 12 months, more than 300,000 visitors flocked to the scenic hilltop complex.

Before leaving, many made purchases at the store. “We’re not really a souvenir shop,” insists Robin Albanese, an assistant manager. “It’s taking home a memory.”

The nonprofit shop is operated by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The operators declined to release sales figures but said all proceeds go to help maintain the library and museum.

Carolyn L. Mente, the store’s manager, said sales were particularly brisk during the holiday season last year. She attributed some of that to the flurry of interest in the library during its opening months.

But she also expects plenty of holiday shoppers to stop by this season, in part because of the shop’s unusual assortment of gifts.

For example, you can’t buy official White House Christmas tree ornaments at just any neighborhood store. These include the 1992 brass ornament, priced at $22.50, which features a porcelain inlay depicting the White House.

Many bookstores carry the former President’s two books, “An American Life” and “Speaking My Mind,” along with Nancy Reagan’s memoirs, called “My Turn.” But only the library’s gift shop is stocked with numerous volumes carrying the Reagans’ signatures.

The former First Lady has visited the shop on several occasions to sign copies of her tome, and plans to do so again on Dec. 10.

The store’s staff says a bundled three-book collection of the Reagans’ works, all autographed, is a popular gift.

“My father-in-law would love it,” said Sally Estrada of Newbury Park, who was browsing through the shop earlier this week. “But the set is $125. I’m going to see if my sister will split it with me.”

Some of the shop’s best-sellers are its less-expensive gifts.

When the library opened, the shop had trouble keeping its $1.50 presidential yo-yos in stock, and they remain a hot seller today. A picture postcard of the five Presidents at the dedication is also extremely popular.

For high-end collectors, independent salesman Gene Czaplinsky has set up a display case offering a gleaming set of four silver medallions minted in the Soviet Union during the Reagan era. The set sells for $1,550.

If money clearly is no object, the shop sells a $55,000 collection of 12 bronze saddles created by sculptor Paul Rossi. Reagan kept a set of these saddles in the Oval Office.

During a recent afternoon at the gift shop, most visitors were opting for mementos with lower price tags.

Ralph Busch, who lives near San Diego, was trying on a Stetson hat “made especially for President Ronald Reagan,” according to its headband.

Nearby, Judith Sitarz of Minneapolis was buying a bag of Jelly Belly candies, the former President’s favorite snack. “That’s for my mother for Christmas,” she said. “She’s a jellybean freak.”

Eleanor Capen, a bridge player from Avila Beach, Calif., was snatching up presidential dessert plates, Ronald Reagan pencils and two decks of Reagan playing cards. “If you’re a card player, you appreciate something like that,” she said.

Joyce Cogswell of Lansing, Mich., was gathering Reagan gifts for her friends back home. “I bought the refrigerator magnets, the paper clips and the address book,” she said.

Her husband, Art, said the Reagan shop surpassed a similar presidential emporium in his home state. “It’s nicer than the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids,” he said. “The people of Michigan ought to be ashamed of ourselves.”

“This is impressive,” his wife agreed. “Of course, California always does everything on a grand scale, doesn’t it?”

Heller, who selects the store’s merchandise, said not just any trinket is appropriate. She has never stocked Reagan ashtrays, she said, because the former President does not smoke. She rejected a mug recently because it was “clumsy looking.”

“I bought one ‘souvenir,’ and it never sold,” Heller said. “It was operated by batteries, and you pushed a button and Marine One helicopter would fly up in the air. It just didn’t move. No one was interested in it.”

Before accepting the top post at the gift shop, Heller said she spent 15 years as general manager of the Beverly Hills I. Magnin store, where she became acquainted with Nancy Reagan as a customer and a friend.

Heller said she has “underpriced” some merchandise in the gift shop because she is concerned about the wide belief that everything associated with the Reagans “was so expensive, which isn’t true.”

The gift shop expanded its reach in September by distributing a 20-page color catalogue to thousands of Reagan fans, including Republican donors and former administration staffers. Mail orders through the catalogue now account for about 15% of the shop’s sales, Heller said.

Although he left office four years ago, Reagan’s appeal remains strong, and first-year sales have exceeded expectations. “It’s been extremely successful,” Heller said, “much more than we ever dreamed.”