talkmagic.co.uk

I love the feel of International Magic. On the rare occasions I am in London I always call in. Very helpful and friendly, and some good stuff.

In New York I found Tannens similar - friendly and eccentric. I found Hank Lee's in Boston very well organised, big and spacious, and utterly soulless. A bit like Davenports.

I'll stick to the jumbles. Life is too short for tidy shelves.

TonyB wrote:
I'll stick to the jumbles. Life is too short for tidy shelves.

You sir, are worthy of high praise.

Toronto has two very well stocked magic shops. I have often thought to myself that the local magicians here are very lucky to have such high quality venues where they can buy virtually any magic they want. Of course both are being badly affected by both the internet and the recession.

The internet is all very well but there is nothing like a solid brick and mortar real magic shop where you can actually see the item in question and get advice there and then about it. I fear that if things go on the way they are then the old fashioned magic shop will become a relic of the past.

International Magic and Davenports have been around for a very, very long time. In fact they are the only two magic shops left in London. I remember the days when there were at least half a dozen shops. For both Internatiional and Davenports to survive they cannot be complacent and should be razor sharp and even more efficient than heretofore. The competition from the internet is fierce and so is the recession. They need to be aggressive if they are going to be around in the next 10 years.

Sorry to be gloomy but I believe I am right.

You are right, they are both doomed . As soon as someone gets their act together in London it will be adios amigos.

Im surprised that no one has jumped in . If Pete Nardi decided to move in lets face it he would wipe them both out in a week

^ Hope it would be better run than his website. I can never get it to work and aways end up phoning my orders in.

Out of interest Gillows, are you on AOL. I also had problems with Alakazam on the website

AOL seems to have a strange effect on some Websites. I cant use the parcel force worldwide site and quite a few others just due to AOL being unfriendly in some technical respect . maybe others dont have this problem

My main point being earlier that they have a big range and are very pro active on new lines. The website is a let down though on occasion

gillows wrote:^ Hope it would be better run than his website. I can never get it to work and aways end up phoning my orders in.

He is aware of slow/non working issues with the site and has recently (ongoing) been doing some web tech to sort it.

I checked it out yesterdy and seems to be working just fine

Antera wrote:If was them i would give the place a facelift and make it more user friendly. For instance the section to right as you walk in with Rubber Bats and party balloons etc should be thrown out and perhaps a TV installed playing vids of all the effects they have. That glass cabinet is a real dogs dinner with dead Bees laying there and moths ,dust etc tetc or perhaps thats the attraction for some folks.

I think Martin should visit Tescos and see how retail is really done.
With a clinical operation they could probably double there turnover , but no more than that. To go to the next level you need bigger premises and some Marketing brains

I have never been there, but upon reading some of the comments IM has been in the same location selling magic for 40yrs and obviously you think you can do better. You think you can come up with a better marketing plan or how to run that business better? My folks have had a brick and mortar store since the early 70's. We know our customers and we know what they like, and it seems that except for you the feeling is mutual internationaly. At Perfect Magic we don't sell novelties but the price paid for that is less income. Many magic shops can't exist without getting into that end of the business. Despite what you might think the magic industry is tiny. With or without the internet the pool of customers is next to nothing. Yet the costs of running a brick and Mortar shop just goes up and up which is why most small business fail, the majority of magic shops fail within two years.

It is so easy to sit back and not be involved and tell somebody else how best to spend their money (ie a facelift for the store) when you have no idea of the expense or what is involved. Obviously if there are dead bees hanging about a good cleaning may be in order. Its easy to say what kind of merchandise they should be carrying. Do you have any idea what the cost of magic is these days on the wholesale side? They probably make twice the money selling one rubber bat then they do when the sell a TP with a silk and the TP book. They probably make 5 times the money selling one fake dog poo or rubber vomit then they do selling 3 invisible decks.

I can go on and on, and I've probably said too much already because these words have probably fallen on deaf (or really young ears).

So rather then sit and trash (for lack of a better word) a successful magic shop why not applaud them and be thankful, they are there.

Antera wrote:Out of interest Gillows, are you on AOL.

Noooooooo! I have fast connection and use Firefox but it always plays up on their site.

I went to the forum for the stealth assassin wallet owners once and logged in, only to find I had full access to the admin area. I could have taken the whole thing down, changed the password or whatever. Left a message on the forum and sent them an email but never went back to see if it had been fixed.

It's a problem with his hosting, and/or web management service whoever they are.