talkmagic.co.uk

I have seen the list Bananfish has of magic shops, I just wondered if anyone knew of one a bit nearer to Oxford. Buying on line is in the main OK but it would be nice to get to a proper shop sometimes and perhaps see something demonstrated. The closest I have found on the Bananfish list is Watford and thats about 50/60miles.

I know the feeling. Try living in Wales.

The nearest one to me is in Plymouth.

I think a weekend to London is on the cards (no pun intended) and a visit to a magic shop may be on the iternary - just got to think of a reason for the wife.

Cheers
Rob

Tell her its a shoe shop

Perhaps I could hypnotise her........

I live in Reading and recently took a trip to Davenports in London ( Based in Charring cross tube station). It was well worth it, The staff their are so helpful and are very patient. The main thing was as you already stated, the ability to see a trick demonstrated and ask any questions you have. (other than 'how does that work? )

Thanks

Najis

I recently visited a new magic shop in Torquay (close to Plymouth) and although his stock was limited (he'd sold most of it..) it was great to see things demonstarted and actually chat one to one with someone who does this professionally.

He showed me some stuff and I showed him some stuff he'd never seen as well.

Must admit.. it was worth the visit. (He even lent me one of his own personal videos to help with an effect I bought !)

Although this doesn't answer your question.. I would think the trip (if coupled with a real trip or day out) would be worth it !

Slippery.

Can you share the name and address details with us? (No worries if you can't remember! )

Hey Najis - you say there's a magic shop in Charing Cross tube station!? Ive never seen that before and I use Charing Cross most days! Where abouts is this!? II'll go and check it out I think! Mark

Mark - you live in Cornwall and use Charing Cross most days? Damn that's got to be one hell of a journey!

Zack wrote::o Mark - you live in Cornwall and use Charing Cross most days? Damn that's got to be one hell of a journey!

Haha! Yeah it would be! I'm a University student in London for half the year, and travel into the city via Charing Cross! But its holiday time now so I'm back in sunny old Cornwall!
Apologies for any kind of commuting confusion caused!! And any alliteration issues.
I'll stop it now! Mark

Mandrake..

I have no idea what the shop was called in Torquay but it's in the Pavillion Shopping Arcade by the harbour for anyone interested. Like I said.. limited stock but a really nice guy.

Slippery

OK, we need to organise a TM Jolly Boys Summer Outing to Torquay!

Count me in on the trip to Torquay!

The irritating thing is that I was in Brixham the week before last and could have got to Torquay no problem.

I think what the answers to this question show is that there is a genuine business opportunity here. I used to be a competitive ballroom dancer with my wife and we identified a shortage of a specialist shoe shop within 70 miles of Oxford. We talked about the business opportunity endlessly until somebody beat us to it.

The adage "if you see a bandwagon you have missed it" is certainly true

The guy who owns the shop is called Trev and like I said.. his stock was limited (but pretty competitively priced against online shops).. but he was a nice guy and it was the chat that really made the visit worthwhile, I could have stayed there chatting all day !

He opened the shop about 8 weeks ago and seems to be doing fine. In fact when he demonstarted his Cup and Balls routine he eventually had about 10 people watching him (not bad for 10am on a Tuesday morning) and even had a lady enquiring about booking him for a childrens party (although he did say he probably wasn't the best person to do kids stuff).

When I'm there next I'll point him to here and another could join our ranks..

Slippery

Great idea! There used to be a shop in Weymouth, in one of the side roads not far from the Prom, and they did a good trade in magic - I bought quite a few bits and pieces there including Choo's Colour Changing Records (that dates both it and me!) so I was really upset to find one year that he was no longer there and some other enterprise had taken over the shop. Spoiled me holiday, it did!