"Magic Shops -vs- Internet"By Ed Williams, Fun Tyme Magic On the other hand, the internet has made magic accessible to thousands of people that previously had to travel many miles or rely on poorly illustrated catalogs with somewhat misleading descriptions as a means of acquiring magic effects. At last the magician can actually compare prices from several different dealers simply by typing in a website address from the comfort of his easy chair. We’ve all heard the expression, “there’s two sides to every story” and if you are somewhat unsure of where you stand on these two opposing, yet valid viewpoints, how do you think I feel. I’m the owner of a real brick-and mortar shop and an on-line website complete with Low Price/ Fast Service Guarantee, Video Demonstrations, Instant Downloads and all the trimmings. How can I take sides? How can I endorse one without slighting the other. How can I sing the praises of one without pointing out the shortcomings of the other. Well, I probably can’t. ……and I probably won’t. The best I can do is give you my opinions on the subject at hand.
Since Magic shops existed long before the first internet connection, we’ll start with them. I think that every magician should support their local magic shop if at all possible. Even if you have to pay a few dollars more, it is a small investment to insure that there will continue to be magic shops in the future. The local magic shop has made a tremendous contribution to promoting the art of magic. Whether it be for personnel gain or love of the art is irrelevant. Magic shops are where magicians gather to discuss, compare, invent, stay informed, learn, share, and socialize. The local magic shop has long been a leader in keeping magic alive with persistent promotion of the art. Concerning the current situation with so many shops closing, it is very unfortunate and a great loss to the magic community. However, it was inevitable, it was foreseeable, and some of the blame can be attributed to the magic shops and dealers themselves. Think about it. Here is a business where you are selling a product that you describe by what it appears to do, not what it actually does. You can’t tell the customer how it does what it appears to do. The customer can’t examine the product and they can’t return it if they are not satisfied. You don’t guarantee that it will fit or that it is what they really want. The price of the product is not necessarily determined by the cost of materials, labor, quality or workmanship. The customer is paying for the secret. For far too many years, many dealers & magic shops have been using “that excuse” to gouge the customer. Oops!…. Did I really say that? I guess the secrets out. (As if you didn’t know) Before I go any further, let me assure you that I firmly believe that the creator of an effect should be compensated for his idea and that revealing the secrets of magic to the general public is without a doubt unethical, unprofessional, and to be avoided at all times. However, how much is a secret worth? How much should a person be required to pay to obtain the secret? I’ve heard stories of people paying $50.00 for a thumb tip and have seen Professor’s Nightmare, (three pieces of cheap rope in an envelope with a page of instructions) priced at $14.95. I’m not saying that these are not valuable tools in a competent performers hands and I understand that the people that use these tools would prefer to keep them away from the general public. However what I am saying is that magic dealers and shops should have realized that with profit margins such as these and with the internet creating the possibility of a global market with millions of potential buyers, how could it go unnoticed. The internet has created a competition in the magic business that has never existed before and thousands of entrepreneurs and e-commerce gurus have jumped on the band wagon with the idea of getting rich or at least making enough money to buy a new skateboard. Magic shop owners can’t wave their magic wand and make this threat to their business go away. The internet and e-commerce magic sites are here to stay. Good or bad, it’s a fact and magic shop owners need to accept the idea and change their business plan to embrace the technology. Now on to the internet. Do a search on Google using the phrase “Magic Tricks” and in approximately 0.18 seconds you will have access to over 2 million sites. Staggering isn’t it? Do I think that you should buy your magic on a website? NO! Not unless you have to. Do I think that you should buy your magic from your local magic shop? YES! If possible. Do I have a website that I would like for you to buy from? YES! Do I think that in the future the only brick & mortar shops will be those being supported by websites. YES! For the past 18 months or so, I have been working at creating a website that reflects the character of my brick and mortar magic shop. Good magic, reasonably priced with exceptional service and honesty. Sure, everybody would like to support the local shops and they don’t want to see them close. But, when it comes right down to it, your at home, it’s 1:30 in the morning, and you see this really great effect that you just have to have. You can wait to see if your local dealer can get it or you can click on the “BUY NOW” button……CLICK………that’s the sound of another nail into the local magic shop’s coffin. But, it doesn’t have to be! If magicians are truly concerned about the demise of the local magic shop, then the thing to do is to buy your magic from websites that also have a real brick-and-mortar magic shop. A local magic shop that supports local magicians, local clubs and is giving something back to the magic community. Convenience and discount prices are the big selling points when it comes to websites. On-line magic shops have a lot to offer as far as convenience is concerned. You can shop 24 hours a day sitting in a recliner buck naked, (please don’t try that at my shop in Nashville). Since the overhead is lower, they can generally sell for less than the traditional shop. Convenience and service are not necessarily synonymous. Whenever I hear the word convenience, I immediately think of Convenience Store and have always wondered why they are called such. When I was a young man the first real job I had was pumping gas in a Service Station. My job consisted of pumping gas, changing oil, etc. Whenever a car pulled up to the pump, a bell would ring and I would drop whatever I was doing and scurry out to the drivers side of the car and exclaim, ”Fill er up?” The driver would tell me how much gas he wanted. I would insert the nozzle start the pump and proceed to wash the front & rear window, headlights, and taillights,. Also included in the service was checking the oil and water. If they requested, I would be happy to check the air pressure in all 4 tires and even the spare if they popped the trunk. Check the brake fluid, transmission fluid, wiper fluid ….if it was fluid I could and would cheerfully check it at their request. At the same time I was keeping an eye on the pump so that I didn’t go over their requested amount. If I did, It came out of my pocket. It was called a Service Station. The customer never got out of their car. Now we have Convenience Stores. You get out of your car and pump your own gas. That is, you pump your gas whenever the attendant inside can pull away from selling lottery tickets and dried up hot dogs and reset the pump. If you want your windows washed or your oil and water checked you do it yourself. To air up a tire is going to cost you at least a quarter and you do it yourself. Unless you pay at the pump, you have to go inside and wait in line with people buying Big Gulps, Pampers, Lottery Tickets, and Pep Pills. Maybe they call them Convenience Stores because it’s so convenient for them to get your money while you do all the work. An on-line magic store can be like a Convenience Store and many are. The best on-line shops are those that actually believe in and deliver good customer service. I think the on-line video demonstration is a great asset. I have over 100 video demonstrations on my website. If a customer came into the shop and asked to see 100 items demonstrated, in person and consecutively. I doubt that I would or could oblige. It’s nice that a customer can see the effect before it’s purchased. Many of the on-line shops now have customer reviews whereas customers that have purchased the effect give their review. I haven’t decided if I think that these reviews are worth the effort or not. Too many of the reviews sound like this…. “I showed my mom and little brother this effect and it really fooled them!! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!. Or “This thing sucks, don’t buy it, it’s a rip off!” I think that unless you have some knowledge of the reviewer, his likes, dislikes, experience, prejudices and motivation for the review, the review is pretty much worthless. That goes for the few reviews that I do in this newsletter. Unless you have some knowledge of me either personally or from my articles and previous reviews why would you trust my opinion.? Speaking of my opinions, I would think that by now you have heard enough from me for this month. Therefore, I will try to summarize my thoughts by saying both brick-and-mortar magic shops and on-line shops have their advantages and disadvantages. The best service you can get from a magic dealer is personal service. The best way to do that is “face to face” in your local magic shop. If and when you go on-line try to deal with websites that realize the importance of personal service and deal with you as if you were standing in their magic shop. 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