talkmagic.co.uk

I know a few of you also own brick and mortar magic shops. One of the strengths of my shop is it is in a shopping district. One of the weaknesses of the shop is that it is behind another store and is practically invisible from the street. Many people have commented they can't find it! Most people in this city don't know it's even there!

We've been putting up a table on the street to get more attention, and it works, but it is difficult to staff consistently. We are looking at signage issues, but have limitations due to building and city rules. We're also working on T-shirt designs to hopefully get people to wear them and raise awareness.

Any ideas on how to gain more attention for the magic shop? I sure could use them.

Thanks!

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Not that this will be generally specific to you, but you should be able to see what I'm talking about.

There is a guitar/music shop near where I live and they are hidden behind a massive d.i.y store (Homebase for thoughs in the UK!) Now the shop isn't in a massive shopping area and the only reason while people would actually come to this area is to go in the D.I.Y store. This guitar shop had a very small ammount of outside space that they were able to use to advertise their shop, and you would think the best they could do is a bright bold sign. Instead what they did is they stick this massive guitar (not a actual real guitar but a model!) so it is hanging out of the wall, then below they include the name of the shop.

I'm not saying that you should shove a massive magic wand outside your shop! What I am saying is you need to make your shop stand out from the rest. It depends who you are aiming your shop at, if it is for newcommers why not have someone going round the streets with a svengali deck, showing them the trick, advertising the shop. If your aiming at current magi (which would probaly suit the location of the shop better, due to the fact that it is quite hidden away) then advertise where magicians will be. For example, are their any specific mexican magic website that you can advertise in? I'm talking like a Mexican Equivelnt of this one http://www.magicweek.co.uk. I know I don't know if I would have ever of found Davenports magic shop unless I looked on the internet! Also maybey go along to a local magic club, say where you are from and ask if you could do a quick 10 minute talk at one of the meetings so you can tell everyone what you offer. Ultimatley if you are looking for sales from current magicians they will go by knowlege.

Sorry because I've mumbled on a bit here and feel I've kind of told you how to run your busineess!

How about putting out a big sandwich board on the sidewalk?

I'm not sure you want to be targeting the general public.
Go after your target market. Spend your time, money and effort increasing your exposure in magic magazines, websites etc.
Do you send out a catalogue?

Thanks for the comments.

With respect to magazines. Albuquerque is a fairly small city and all of the professional magicians, IBM and SAM members are frequent customers and they are very good customers. Unfortunately, there is just not enough of them.

With respect to sales, it is the novice users or shoppers off the streets who provide the volume of sales. Of those customers, comments we hear most are "I never knew there was a magic shop in Albuquerque" or "I heard there was a magic shop, but couldn't find it!" This is because our shop is behind another shop and we don't have much street presence except for the signs on the sidewalk which can't be seen from cars.

We do place sandwich boards on the street and have magicians working the sidewalk in front of the store. As I said, consistently staffing it is the hardest part.

We also work with an entertainment agency so all parties that the agency sends magicians, clowns, or whatever, get magic shop coupons. We also are in the yellow pages and on the internet.

We are considering painting a large magic mural on the building that is unique and will attract attention. We're hoping the building owner will agree to it. So far he hasn't agreed to allow us to place a sign on the building.

We also have and advertise weekly live magic, mentalism, and hypnotist shows. The have brought us some attention, but it hasn't been consistent. We also hold the society of young magicians meetings at the shop. We also hold a magician's apprentice workshop once a month.

We're very proud that in terms of customer service the overwhelming response is GREAT. We spend time making a connection with each customer and we teach every trick we sell. Our aim is to ensure every customer has a great experience.

I appreciate your comments. Was hoping to find some "out of the box" ideas that others may have had some success.

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