On 2011-04-29 02:38, Tony Curtis wrote:
The problem with the internet is anyone can set themselves up as a magic dealer with little or no questions asked. I know of a number of websites that have many items listed on them but no actual stock in hand. When a few orders come in they simply buy from a magic supply wholesaler. These company’s may have a minimum order requirement but again no real policing. I am afraid to say it’s all about making money and rights, wrongs or ethics sadly don’t come into the equation.

Tony Curtis

On 2011-08-03 23:17, Stephane Jardonnet wrote:
Magic shops don't die. There is more magic shops now that there has ever been....

On 2011-04-23 10:56, mmreed wrote:
The problem is two fold...

certainly the internet has changed they dynamics of business - it has in EVERY sector... book stores, music stores, even gun shops and sporting goods. Magic is not magically exempt from this shift.

there is also another side that when combined with the internet is causing this shift. As mentioned brick shops have rent, utilities, ect...

Think about the typical shop - its in a town of X number people... how many magicians are around? With Xboxes, mp3 players, skateboards, and heres the kicker - a lower age where boys discover girls and the loose disciplines of today... you have a scenario where the customer base for a shop is MUCH MUCH lower than in the past.

Rent $1200 (very conservative)
Utils $300
Monthly salary for owner $3000 (this is $36k a year... not much when you have to support a family)

add it all up.. $4500 profit needed

assume the shop is open EVERY DAY - that requires $150 a day in PROFIT to survive.

Figure a modest 40% margin on items sold and the dealer would need to sell around $400 a day in product to just survive at those figures.

now factor that into every shop across the country... that's a lot of magic needing to be sold.

On 2006-07-31 03:00, alannasser wrote:
I have little patience with the oft-heard mantras "You have to go with progress.", and "You can't fight the free market." And the idea that we can't "eliminate" the forces contributing to the decline of the B&M magic shop but we can "hinder" them sounds reasonable but seems to me to miss the point. The magic community has a history and certain traditions which have hitherto been essential to the development of our art, and to the training of aspiring magicians. The fact is that you really *can't* get from the internet what you can from personal interaction with an accomplished magician, and in my experience the magic shops I have visited have all had serious magicians behind the counter. In the past few months I have visited magic shops in Eugene, Oregon, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Los Angeles. On each of these visits I've learned something from the guy behind the counter that I'd not seen before and that was directly useful to me. And I've been performing magic for more than 50 years. Specifically, some ingenious tips on the pass, a brilliant and more deceptive version of the flustration count, and a fabulous twist to the spider vanish. In each case the guy learned it from a guy who learned it from a guy who... There is simply no substitute for this kind of interaction.

When I was first getting into magic in my pre-teens, I'd hang out at (what used to be) Tannen's. A kid who'd buy something regularly -not necessarily every time- could hang out and even overhear Lou or Jim Herpick detailing moves and secrets to other magicians, BUT there was a condition: you had to show e.g. Jim that you had been working on the sleight that he'd helped you with last week, and that you'd made some progress. Jim or Lou would then offer suggestions for improvement. Same thing would happen next week. This element in the formation of young magicians is what's disappearing by the commodification of magic on a mass scale. Our economic system tends to commodify, standardize and, in very many cases lower the quality, of more and more things. Once upon a time there were fewer magicians, and most of them were quite good, hard-working dweebs like myself who knew that taking magic seriously was like taking your piano lessons seriously: you had to work. Now there are more magicians, but a larger percentage of them are not very good. If this is what the "free market" and "progress" entail, then so much the worst for them. In response to this remark, we will be told that the "free" market and progress are inevitable. Well, to call the developments under discussion "progress" implies that they represent a *betterment* of our art, and that begs the very issue under discussion. And as for the free market -- my politics happen to be WAY to the Left of 99.9% of my magician buddies, so the fact that something is allegedly necessitated by the free market carries less than zero weight with me.

I apologize if this sounds a bit lecturey and argumentative -- I'm a just-retired prof of political economy and well, we academics sometimes sound like pompous asses. We really aren't though. No really, we aren't.
Best,
Alan

On 2012-06-10 12:18, Mitch150 wrote:
Just MY EXPERIENCE --

We have several B & M shops around my location. Been there, done that - went away an unhappy customer. WHY?

First, they seem to have more "novelties" on the shelf than anything else. Even cards are stocked on a "one up" basis. You buy the last one, and it might be months before they get another one. A lot of old junk. Old effects, probably bought out of an estate, really stage worn and needing a good cleaning and painting. Stuffy old store fronts which haven't painted in ages, or maybe cleaned in the last 10 years. Odd hours - the sign out front says 9 to 5, but good luck finding them there most days. I know they maybe out working shows, but if they want to keep a store open, then they should have somebody sitting there during "normal" store hours, just to man the counter. It could be a relative or friend who just needs something to fill time. Not much for the working semi-pro, or for those who are working this as experienced hobby.

Second, it seems like you are a mouse walking into a cat convention. You get the "eye" and everyone acts like you are looking for the latest state secret. Just wanting to buy some 18 silks -- or just looking for refills for one of the effects. One gets tired of the suspicion that you are doing something underhanded.

Third, attitude. I am not sure who runs these things, but they seem to feel that they know everything about the arts, and have totally mastered Tarbell, and you are approaching their holy grail and asking for some small advise / which / could end up being a major reveal. Sorry, I know my trade, I am not any type of expert, but I can do what I do quite well, judging from how my shows are received.

ON LINE - one can select from what they need, get it in a few days, and no questions, funny looks, or the constant question --

ARE YOU A MAGICIAN? --- NO I am not, I am a SHOWMAN, putting on a magical arts show.

-- Mitch --

Then I took the time to look you up on your web site. One picture of you says it all. The term hack seems appropriate.