I have some DVDs by a magician named "Attillio". I guess he runs (or ran) a magic shop in Universal Studios, Orlando, FL, but I haven't seen him mentioned in any threads. Anyone heard of him or his DVDs? All the stuff I have says "Theatre Magic Show Shop" on it and lists "theatremagic.com" as the website - but there's nothing there. Just curious. Thanks!

I've been in the shop before while on vacation, but had a bad experience there, with prices being through the roof and the staff treating me badly. I haven't heard of the DVD's though, but personally, I wouldn't reccomend him or the shop.

The prices are pretty ridiculous, but it's the only magic shop in this geographic area. The guy working the other day was GREAT when we were there. He even showed me how the fire wallet was done (I'm sure he hoped I would buy one - and I did - on eBay). Oh, this was the St. Augustine location, NOT the Universal one - so that may have made a big difference. Thanks for your feedback Cody.

Whitjm5 ~ I know of a nice magic shop in Orlando. It is located off of Colonial. backstagemagicshop.com
It is run by a very nice couple (Tom and Donna). I am always treated well there and their prices are reasonable (not tourist trap).
Rob

I had some friends visit just this weekend from there. I'll have to check it out next time I'm down there and I'll tell my friend (he bought a couple of tricks in St. Augustine too). Thanks for the tip!

Hey guys, I realize that some of you are aware that in certain circumstances, retail stores HAVE to make some money. For those of you who were complaining about the prices of the effects you need to keep in mind that Universal charges a ton of money for rent. Therefore, the magic shop MUST increase the cost of the product to see a fair return. Factor in commissions paid to the staff, advertising, design, packaging (we package our own products), camera equipment (we shoot all of our instructional DVD's), and in the end, the company sees an ok profit.. That's why we continuously perform every 15-20 minutes. Also, we are not a typical magic shop and cater to the tourist. It's strictly a business platform that has worked for us for over 7 years. Obviously we're doing something right.

As for the bad experience that the one guy mentioned, no store is ever going have the perfect employee. The downside to having a tourist based magic shop is that we cannot afford the luxury of "jamming" inside the store. We're on a tight schedule and "turn and burn" is the key to our success. I personally try to take a minute or two and answer all questions until I reach the point to where wither I cannot answer the question and have to pass it on to management or have to start another show. You should have emailed us and told us about your experience. We would have tried to make you happy.

Regarding the website, we will have an all new website up and running this year. It will be completely new and have all the demonstrations just like you would see as if you were in the store!

Thank you for hopefully understanding.

I live in the Orlando area. I have actually had pretty good service at the Theatre Magic store in Universal. Last time I was there, one of the staff performed a full coin routine for my 5 yr. old daughter. I agree that the prices are a bit high, but it is understandable considering their overhead. I would rather pay a little extra for a product that I was able to exam in person before paying for it. The DVDs that they make and that come with many of their products are actually pretty informative and well made. They might not be as flashy as others but the instruction is very sound. All that being said, I'm not sure if the store is in business any longer. The last time I went by there it was completely empty.

Hi Drokle,

Thanks for the comments. I'm glad someone understands that we have to go through hoops of fire to make a decent living. In regards to our shop being open, we are still going strong and things are only looking up. We have just completed our product line of over 100 items, custom-packaged and every includes a DVD. We have three locations. Two inside Universal Studios (next to Mel's Diner) and Islands of Adventure (I.O.A) next to the Sinbad show. We really do take pride in our form of teaching because we try to go into the psychology of the effect and not just "here ya go". Thanks for the comments. BTW, if you were talking about our other store in St. Augustine, it's closed down until mid March. We are going through a complete renovation and the store will be gutted for about a month. It will have a completely different look and feel to it and we're very excited!

I thank TheatreMagic in St. Augustine for reviving my interest in magic. I stopped in last summer and saw the levitating playing card and the fire wallet. Great effects for an amateur. I was hooked. There's definitely an advantage to buying in a shop even if you pay more.

regards,

jay68

The problem I had with this magic shop is it uses a high-pressure sales tactic -- you are enclosed in an intimate environment during the show, the doors are closed behind you, and you don't KNOW that it is a magic shop. You are recruited on the street by people who shuffle you into the small theater, telling you it's about to start it's about to start -- but of course it doesn't start until every seat is filled.

Then after the show it is rush, rush, rush, buy, buy, buy -- and then before you can even open what you have bought, the doors are locked and you can't change your mind or bring the trick back to return it because you are literally shut out of the shop. That is not a normal shop. A normal shop would be open all the time so that you could return items that were broken or didn't work right or really for any reason at all if it's on the up and up. But this shop is not. I left there feeling cheated. The trick I bought was not portrayed as dangerous but it IS very dangerous and I was deceived into buying it. It was very expensive, but there is a sort of group mentality that goes with these things, and everyone in the shop creates an atmosphere of, "You've got to get these tricks NOW"

So although I enjoyed the show, I felt it was deceptive because it wasn't a show at all -- it was a sales pitch. This is not what one expects at a shop at an amusement park when you just paid an awful lot of money to get into the park.

I wanted to say I took the advice and contacted Theater Magic about my experience, and they were very nice and helpful and apologized. They were in a transition time at Universal Studios and they said they have made some improvements.

So I'd like to suggest others do the same in contacting the company if you are concerned, since they are open to helping. There is an email on their website.

Janie

I would like to comment on the last post here and clarify some things:

Theatre Magic provides 15-20 minute magical presentations that showcase the items for sale. When you are leaving the Terminator show or the Horror Make-up show across the street or are going by our store at IOA (Islands of Adventure), we do indeed have several people throughout the day informing guests that walk by that a magic show will soon be starting. And if you haven't noticed, our signs that we hold say, in LARGE bold letters, "Live Magic Show! Seating Now!"

When you walk into the store YOU have the made the choice to visit. There are plenty of cabinets with our products in them with price tags that indicate clearly that we sell magic tricks.

We usually try to fill up our shows before starting but do have (and implement) a 5-7 minute wait time so our performers can get ready.

One thing we are STRONGLY against (and I know because I have helped train our guys) is that we focus on NOT SELLING! You hear me correctly...NOT selling. We perform 5 of our best-selling tricks and have a scripted show that does talk about how easy the tricks are and that they ALL come with a DVD but at no point do we EVER use ANY high-pressure sale tactics. We don't have to. We have approximately 1300-1400 people a day that come to our shop. We simply do a very entertaining show, demonstrate the trick, and then at the end we discuss prices. If you decide to buy you buy.

In most situations people decide they want it and because we have 1-2 registers, yes, you may have to wait for a bit.

As for the doors being locked, I have no idea what you are talking about. We have hundreds of people a day coming in and out of our doors. They are NEVER locked! We are not allowed to lock the doors unless we are closed. And besides, why the heck would we lock our doors? We would lose money.

Now, the doors are closed during the shows to avoid outside interruption but if you to ANY live performance you're going to see that EVERYWHERE. If you go to a movie, the door closes behind you. If you go to a play, the doors close. We have had issues with people coming in and leaving the show and then others follow or people can sometimes just be rude. How would you like it if you were performing a show and people just started getting up left and right and walking out or talking on their phones...not a nice thought is it? But because of the noise, attractions, and other things, we feel that by closing the doors gives the audience a more intimate feeling and also helps cut down on disturbing the show. Besides, our shows only last 15 minutes.

As for the show itself...if you walk in, have a fun time, and then decide NOT to buy anything, then you my friend just experienced a FREE show.

When I was in Orlando with my family in December 2009, I was fascinated by what I saw during the show. The result: I got into magic, although I am already in the late 40s. I did not feel any sort of pressure to buy anything but I purchased 3 products: Sponge balls, Levitator and a Svengali deck; everything came with a DVD of very good quality (the video, the teaching), worth every Penny. If you have ever bought magic and paid in EUR (I live in Germany), you also know that prices are relative high over here. I still feel like I really got an excellent value for the price in Orlando, even after purchasing some other stuff. My 2 cents.

MagicAlMichael

It doesn't seem that anyone responds to questions submitted there.

I did get a response four days after submission. Thanks.

Paying a small premium on magic items is the trade off we face in order to have brick/mortar shops exist. Honestly, how much more do the stores REALLY charge over the internet sites? You're saving a dollar (or three!), but you're losing all the benefits that a actual store with actual other magicians and the community behind them. A poor and short sighted trade off in my not-so-humble opinion...

Yes, the internet sites have their proper place, but you're a fool if you neglect the actual shops and only shop online.

Could always make a trip over to Daytona Magic and see Harry Allen and Irv Cook. Great customer service from them!

Thanks. I live in Ontario and always hit the Browser's Den of Magic when in Toronto. Terrific brick and mortar shop.

I like to support brick and mortar shops...I think this is why I always try to buy something when I am in another shop...so the buy when at Universal Orlando is not unusual for me.