A magic friend called the store before going there.
On December 1st (Opening Day), I called the B Magic Shop. Here's how that conversation went:
Store: Hello?
Friend: Is this the B Magic Shop?
Store: Who is calling?
Friend: (I repeat) Is this the B Magic Shop?
Store: (He repeats) Who is calling?
Friend: A potential customer...did I reach the B Magic Shop?
Store: (awkward pause) Yes
Friend: What time do you close today?
Store: When you want to come?
Friend: I don't know...what are your hours?
Store: When you want to come?
Friend: I don't know...maybe today...when do you close?
Store: I'm probably leaving at 4pm today (10 minutes from then).
Friend: Oh, ok, thank you.
Store: WAIT! When you wanna come?
Friend: No idea, I'll swing out there sometime soon.
Store: WHEN?
Friend: I don't know? Maybe next week sometime.
Store: (CLICK) Hangs up.
But still being curious about this mysterious new shop he went there.
I decided that TODAY was the day and I would head out to visit the B Magic Shop for myself. GPS starts to lead me thru Arlington and I begin to get that "not so great feeling" in the pit of my stomach as I'm leaving the nice part of town, and I begin to drive thru the "not so great part" of town. Very depressed area, buildings falling apart and in some need of some repair. But I venture forward and arrived at the shop at 12pm (noon). They were closed. I found it mildly humorous they were closed because they had a larger banner on the window that read "WE ARE OPEN!"
I peaked inside the windows and the showroom was a mess. It was dirty, the industrial carpet was old and coming up from the floor in places. The back wall was lined with shelves of DVDs. They appeared to be very old and worn and not in "new/pristine" condition. Since I couldn't get my hands on them, I couldn't tell if they were pirated copies or not, but the appearance of them leads me to believe so. There was a long display case that had B Magic Shop spray painted on the front with some small gadget stuff inside (cards, ball vases, etc.). Couldn't make out much of what was in there. The props I saw on the other shelving all looked to be either "home made" props with poor paint jobs, or old dirty and broken things in major need of repair. Not the kinds of stuff you would expect to see in a NEW Magic Shop Showroom. Pretty bad secondimpression since they've been open now for 19 days. If I didn't know better, I would assume that the tenants in the space got evicted and just abandoned their product in the store.
If you check out their website you will find obvious rip offs of Losander's Tables as low as $70, Neilson Bottles for $8 and the Dean's Box for $69.00.
The shop was suggested as a WMF but I cannot do that. I got this strict rule: If they don't ridicule themselves on the internet I leave them alone. But because of the obvious sale of rip offs via their website they get an honorable mention from me. So if you wanna buy stuff from them, I suggest not to.
8 comments:
Shittiest name for the shittiest magic shop.
The part of town the shop is in isn't really rough, it's just not affluent. Heck, the magic lectures in town are he'll in. A restaurant in worse shape than this strip center.
I had a similar experience to the reporter -- have been by a few times since it is only about ten minutes away from my house. The shop looks newly put together on a shoestring, kind of like moving a garage or basement based magic resale business into the cold light of real overhead and billpaying.
Supposedly some of their stuff comes in trade, but I haven't been inside yet to see what is what.
More if I ever make it inside.
Real hatchet job you did on this magic store. Some of it not even substantiated. He can and probably should sue you for defamation.
Shame on you. This is reckless journalism.
Interesting that this review was made by Christopher Lyles on the Magic Cafe. The Magic Cafe deleted the thread because of legal ramifications. Yet you posted it in the first person.
I clearly say that it was not me going there. About the claim of reckless journalism. I am far from journalism. So that is null and void. This is a blog on my views about magic and magic individuals. About certain behaviors by dealers, magicians and so on. Free Speech and all.
HAHAHAHAHA, YOU FROM MAGIC ETC ONLY CAN EAT SHIT, AS I TOLD YOU,VERY SOON I WILL SEND YOU BANKRUPCY PAPERS..
YOU SEND TO OUR SHOP POLICE, YOU WRITE AGAINST US IN MAGIC CAFFE, YOU SEND EMAIL TO EVERYONE NOT TO GO TO VISIT B MAGIC SHOP,
ARE YOU SCARED SO MUCH FROM B MAGIC SHOP?
I see you are clearly reading. But dare I say that I think you lack understanding?
Your negative comments are ridiculous, based on looking in the window of the establishment. Obviously you have a hidden agenda, I am glad to see there is a new magic shop which has opened its doors in this rough economy!
I have ordered from this company online and the order came fast and the prices cannot be beat! Why not give people a chance instead of acting like a jealous teenager? It is know it all jackasses like you that ruin our art, you will probably not even post my comment I can tell you are on a power trip. Chuck
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