St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station

Name

St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station

Legal name

St. Louis Union Station Aquarium

Website

https://stlouisaquarium.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Aquarium and Family Entertainment Attractions

NAICS

Zoos and Botanical Gardens (712130)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Zoo & Aquarium Parks (Ticketed Wildlife Attractions) (THAJAEAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Zoos, Aquariums & Botanical Gardens (Educational Collections) (THAJADAL)

Keywords

• Public aquarium attractions
• Marine wildlife exhibits
• Educational field trips
• Animal encounter programs
• Event venue rentals

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. General Admission Tickets: Day passes sold to individual visitors for aquarium entry. Allows unlimited re-entry throughout the day during operating hours.
2. Annual Memberships: Recurring annual memberships offering unlimited 12-month access, complimentary parking, 15% discounts on attractions, restaurants, and gift shop purchases.
3. Educational Programs: Revenue from field trips, scout programs, summer camps, teen programs, and homeschool days with structured educational content.
4. Private Event Rentals: Corporate venue rental, wedding and social event hosting, birthday parties at the aquarium venue.
5. Gift Shop Sales: On-site retail gift shop selling souvenirs, eco-friendly plush toys made from recycled bottles, apparel, and photo products.
6. Premium Animal Experiences: Private animal encounters including stingray painting, island lizard encounters, tamandua encounters, porcupine encounters, and dive messages at $150 per experience.
7. Parking Fees: Parking validation service with $5 fee after aquarium visit; complimentary for members.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station operates a 120,000-square-foot public aquarium housing more than 13,000 animals across 257 species in 44 freshwater and marine exhibits, including a 250,000-gallon Shark Canyon habitat. It sells general admission day passes, annual and grandparents memberships, combo tickets bundling Union Station attractions, premium animal encounters, dive messages, and venue rentals for corporate events, weddings, and birthdays, while delivering curriculum-aligned educational programs (field trips, scout badges, summer camps, homeschool and teen programs) through the affiliated St. Louis Aquarium Foundation.

Product overview

The St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station is a single 120,000-square-foot aquarium venue offering general admission access to multiple galleries including Confluence, Global Rivers, Changing Rivers, Ocean Shore, Shark Canyon, and The Deep. The aquarium operates as part of Union Station's attractions portfolio, with the aquarium serving as the anchor attraction complemented by additional outdoor and indoor rides including The St. Louis Wheel, Mini Golf, Ropes Course, Mirror Maze, Carousel, Flying Louie, Loco Motion Spinning Coaster, Wave Swinger, and Selfie Express. The aquarium's core revenue streams include day passes, annual/grandparents memberships, and combo tickets bundling multiple Union Station attractions. Additional revenue comes from paid enhancement programs including Dive Messages, animal encounters (Stingray Paint, Island Lizards, Tamandua, Porcupine), field trips, summer camps (Camp Fins & Friends), homeschool days, teen programs, scout badge workshops and overnights, and event hosting for birthdays, corporate events, and weddings. The gift shop offers eco-friendly merchandise including plush toys made from recycled materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Aquarium Day Passes

Quantifiable outcome

• 15 million recycled bottles used annually for eco-friendly plush toys
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Hilton (St. Louis Union Station Hotel, Curio Collection)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHilton operates the St. Louis Union Station Hotel with special rooms overlooking the aquarium. Exclusive partnership for hotel accommodations with aquarium views. Members receive 30% discount at the hotel. This is the only U.S. aquarium with this level of hotel accommodation integration.
• Coca-ColaminorOthersMajor sponsor of St. Louis Aquarium. Coca-Cola logo appears on sponsors page.
• TetraminorOthersSponsor of St. Louis Aquarium. Tetra is a fish food and aquarium product brand.
• AmerenminorOthersSponsor of St. Louis Aquarium. Ameren is a utility company serving Missouri.
• PurinaminorOthersSponsor of St. Louis Aquarium. Purina is a pet care and animal nutrition company.
• Anheuser-BuschminorOthersSponsor of St. Louis Aquarium.
• Greater St. Louis Area Council (BSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial scouting partner for Boy Scouts of America merit badge workshops. Programs include Oceanography (with Back of House Shark Canyon Tour) and Environmental Science. Registration through the council's events page.
• Girl Scouts of America (GSA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOfficial partnership for Girl Scout badge programming including Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador levels. Badge programs offered Monday-Friday with classroom and animal ambassador experiences.
• Operation Food SearchminorOthersPartnership to provide free lunch to summer camp participants at no additional cost through Operation Food Search.
• Lincoln UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for homeschool programs with Nutrition Assistant Eryka Williams participating in 'Fish. Food. Fun' program to teach about nutrition.
• Soil Scientist Ralph TuckerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerExpert partner for homeschool community science programs conducting soil tests at Fairgrounds Park during 'No Dry Dirt' program.
• Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)minorOthersFollows AZA best practices for animal sourcing, prioritizing acquisition from other zoos, aquariums, rescue facilities, and sustainable sourcing organizations.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• St. Louis Zoo: Free, nationally ranked zoo in the same St. Louis metro that competes for family education and entertainment dollars. Not a direct aquarium competitor but a key substitute that affects aquarium pricing, attendance, and membership conversion.

Direct peers

• National Aquarium: Baltimore-based nonprofit aquarium with similar exhibit structure, education programming, premium animal encounters, and event venue rental. Comparable size and revenue mix including memberships and field trips.
• Tennessee Aquarium: Chattanooga-based aquarium with a similar freshwater-to-ocean narrative arc, animal encounters, and educational outreach. Comparable scale, regional tourism positioning, and family/education focus.
• Newport Aquarium: Regional aquarium in Kentucky owned by Herschend Family Entertainment, with comparable size, gallery structure, animal encounters, and group/corporate event offerings. Closest size and operational comparable.
• Georgia Aquarium: Largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere, operating a similarly diverse set of galleries, animal encounters, and educational programs in Atlanta. Direct comparator for scale, exhibit design, and revenue model composition.
• Shedd Aquarium: Major Midwestern public aquarium in Chicago offering comparable galleries, animal encounters, group/event programs, and educational field trips. Closest regional comparable in terms of mission, programming breadth, and target market.
• Monterey Bay Aquarium: Iconic California aquarium renowned for educational programming and conservation mission. Comparable in operating a multi-gallery experience with memberships, animal encounters, and field trips, though larger and more conservation-focused.
• Audubon Aquarium of the Americas: New Orleans aquarium operated as part of a larger nature institution; similar exhibit structure, animal encounter programs, and educational field trip offerings for a regional tourism market.
• Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium: Midwestern zoo-aquarium combination with a substantial aquarium component, offering similar family, education, and event programming in a comparable regional market. Useful comparable for combined zoo/aquarium economics.

Broad incumbents

• Sea Life (LEGOLAND Discovery/Aquariums): Global chain of aquariums operating under Merlin Entertainments. Competes in the same ticketed-aquarium category but as a portfolio of locations, not a single destination, and with standardized rather than locally curated exhibits.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights8 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/stlaquariumfoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/st-louis-aquarium-foundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/aquariumstlfoundation
• Xx.com/AquariumSTL

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station