London magic shops Archives

How to Buy Magic Tricks – Common Problems and Mistakes – Advice from Alan Rorrison

As magicians, we love to buy magic tricks as soon as they are released. Large super market style magic shops aim to offer the widest range of magic, as soon as it’s released.

Each day, the What’s New Section gets another batch of magic books, DVD’s and magic tricks to tempt you. How you react to that, is very important to your development as a magician.

We asked magician Alan Rorrison to give some advice to magicians that will help them improve their magic. Alan wanted to talk about buying magic tricks that you don’t need, and we think it’s very good advice:

Do you buy Magic tricks like Pokemon?

You don’t have to catch them all! It’s OK to collect magic, but that’s not going to make your magic better. Jumping from the latest new magic trick to the latest magic book, then over to the new Blackpool Magic Convention releases, just distracts you from serious practice.

Don’t buy magic tricks on impulse

When you decide to buy magic tricks, make it because they will fit your style and your act. Because it’s new, can be a terrible reason to choose any magic tricks. Be selective, and pick your magic tricks with care and put thought into it. If the only reason you are interested in buying a magic trick is to know it’s secret, it’s nothing more than a puzzle to you.

Buy magic tricks that are right for you

The best magic shops keep a huge back catalog. That’s not an easy thing for magic shops to do. Older tricks get forgotten and don’t sell in great numbers. Shop space is expensive, so small hobby dealers tend to only stock what’s new and ‘hot’ and clear their inventories once the hype is over.

6 ways to save a lot of money when you buy magic tricks:

1) Back Catalogs

Find a magic shop that keeps a large back catalogue. Magic shops that keep all the old tricks allow you to have it all to choose from.

2) Adverts hiding as magic product reviews

Seek out reviews that don’t have a sales agenda. It’s pretty easy to spot when a magic tricks review is really an advert or infomercial for the dealer selling it. Seek out reviews for older products that are tried and tested and not being reviewed just prior to an exclusive launch or after a magic dealer has bulk purchased stock.

3) Search in the right places.

Search magic shop websites by price, name or style, NOT by the date the magic tricks were added to the catalogue.

4) Two questions to ask yourself when you buy magic tricks:

Ask yourself: Is this the type of magic effect I would like to perform? If the answer is yes, ask yourself: Is this the best possible version that has ever been created?

5) What’s the magic shops priority?

Email or phone the magic shop to ask the dealers opinion before you buy magic tricks. They want a happy long term relationship with you as a customer much more than they want to make a one time sale. Good magic shops are staffed full time by professional working magicians and are told to give customers their real honest opinions of the tricks they stock.

6) Advice from outside the project

Seek out the opinion of magic dealers that don’t have a vested interest in the magic tricks they stock. There is nothing wrong with wanting to buy magic tricks from manufacturers, but make sure you get a second opinion. Creators of magic tricks love their work and are, quite rightly proud of it. You can get valuable advice from talking to magic creators, but also consult magicians that are not so close to the project, and can discuss the alternatives with you.

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How to Return Magic Tricks That You Don’t Like

by Merchant of Magic 2 Comments

Until you start learning a new magic trick, it’s very hard to know if it is going to be right for you.

The magic shop already has a 365 day magic trick return policy, where you have up to one full year to return an unused item to them for an online credit to choose something else.

The old way:

The standard 365 day return policy has some seriously big limitations:

The item has to be unused and returned in A1 condition.
It excluded magic DVD’s and digital media.
You get an online credit to choose something else instead.

Now, that’s still better than any other magic shops we know about, but sometimes you order a magic trick, play with it, test it out and then decide it’s not for you. It may not be right for your style, it might be above your current level of technical skill, or you might simply think that it sucks..

So, we had a team meeting, and Dominic suggested that they pick a few items, and let customers just play with them at home to make sure that the magic tricks really are right for them. Everyone on the team thought that would be awesome, but when we discussed this a magician visiting the shop, he raised this point:

Magician: ‘That’s all well and good, but isn’t the purpose of a magic shop to sell magic secrets? Once a secret has been shared it can’t be ‘unshared’ and therefore, can’t’ be returned.’

Dominic: ‘That’s a very good point, BUT our magic shop doesn’t just sell magic tricks. The purpose of The Merchant of Magic is to teach, train and support magicians to become better.’

The new way:

When you browse through the magic shop website, you will see some magic tricks that show this logo:

That’s our invitation for you to order the trick and give it a good try out. Practice it, perform it, even take it home to meet your parents! If you don’t like it for any reason, just post it back to us within 30 days and we will refund the item price back to you.

More details about our 30 Day Money Back Guarantee here

Best Magic Shops in London – Magic Shop Ratings and Reviews

by Merchant of Magic 1 Comment

Source http://www.flickr.com/people/dannynic

The Merchant of Magic’s bricks and mortar shop isn’t based in London, but it offers many of its magic tricks with free next day delivery within London (and all the UK). The magic shop often delivers packages directly to hotel receptions, for visitors wanting magic whilst on holiday, or performing in the UK.We often get questions from magicians who have arrived in the UK and are spending time in London. They phone or email to ask if the shop is based in London and if they can visit.

The Magic shop is actually based in Southwick, Hampshire. Southwick is a small medieval village, on the south coast of the England. It’s about 1 hour 45 minutes from central London.

If you are staying in London and want to visit the best magic shops in London, you have several choices:

Davenports
7 Charing Cross Underground Arcade,
The Strand,
London, WC2N 4HZ

Davenports is one of the oldest magic shops in the world and a very popular choice for tourists. Its history makes it a popular shop for visiting magicians in London.

International Magic
89 Clerkenwell Road,
London, EC1R 5BX

A very well established magic shop in London. They regularly hold magic lectures, courses and once a year they run their own magic convention.

Marvins Magic at Hamleys Toy Shop
188-196 Regent St,
London, W1B 5BT

If you are interested in watching magicians perform Marvins magic tricks for the public, you will enjoy visiting the Magic stand in Hamleys toy shop, it’s definitely one of the best magic shops in London for a good dealer demonstration.

As well as getting a chance to watch the famous street performers in the main square, looks out for a small magic stall in the street market area of Covent Garden.

So there you have it, 3 of the best magic shops in London you can visit whilst exploring the city. If you do drop by, be sure to say hello from the team at the Merchant of Magic!