Hi ,

I am thinking of opening a magic equipment/dvd/books shop but it seems everything is available online. Is there any point in me opening a physical store?

regards
wickedpuppy

PS : Pardon me if this is posted in the wrong place.

You should do a proper survey before you decide to open a shop. Asking for opinions here will probably give you little results.

Like you said, most stuffs are already available online. Unless your brick and mortar shop is able to match the prices online (which I think may be difficult due to overheads).

Most people will want cheap stuffs. But if you want to increase profit margin by doing unethical stuffs, then you'd probably be shun by many magicians too. take a look at the shops in Singapore, look at their flow, it'll help you decide.

Thats what I thought so too .... overhead costs is a major factor , especially in Singapore. Any respectable size shop , say 200-400 sqft will easily costs 2-5k per month depending on the location.

Tough tough decisions to make ....

After paying for rent and stuff, the products will definitely be more expensive than online shops, I suggest you open an online shop first and see how it works out before opening a shop.

I think online shop lack the customer base you require initially. You should probably retail products from exclusive manufacturers

Such as? MurphyMagic? MagicDepot?

Btw , I am about to , not yet confirmed , take over a existing game shop in the east and was thinking of bringing in magic items as well but having a second though about it. But since the shop has some space , I thought it might be much more easier to lease the space for magic classes , with commission. What do you guys think?

Open an online shop, have some customers, than when you have a bigger circle of customers than at least you will know that at least some people will come and buy from you, and that you are not wasting your time, money and energy.

Online shop first? Hmms ... that can be done I suppose. Thanks for the idea. The problem with some of the suppliers is that they want regular purchases , meaning $888 per month every month to retain the dealer account ... To someone who is tip-toeing into the new water , its not so easy to do that ... since I don't have a customer base yet.

Yeah, so if you open a shop won't that be worse, if you can't sustain the shop and further more these suppliers are chasing you to order more?

Lol ... yah it will also be worse ... oh well probably I got too excited... let me calm down and see what comes up in a month or so.

Yeah, do you have an online shop currently?

Before you you post further, I think you should read our rules first. We don't allow the use of "..." in our forum.

Anyway, if magic is your not your core business if you use the game shop, then I guess its worth a shot. As for using it for magic classes, I hope you do it in a proper and ethical way. If we want to rely on magic as a source of income, we need to respect it.

My apologies regarding "...". Yes I should have read the rules.

The shop is almost confirmed with a few more papers to sign and unless something comes up , by end of this week I should have the keys.

I am also in the process of setting up my online store. Oh and of course , I will use it in proper and ethical ways for both online/offline business transactions. The very fact that I am asking for advice here means I really wants to start-off in the right direction from the very beginning even before I sell a coin or a bicycle deck.

Thank you very much to all for your input. Thank you.

Good luck with your shop, and would you mind pm-ing me on the location of your shop so I can go check it out? thanks

Honestly, bro I tink the new generation of kids do not buy magic dvd anymore.
My two kid cousins are well versed in downloading illegal files from
the internet. They told me that they even downloaded latest dvd'd like daniel garcia's five. a dvd rip!

What is more shocking is they told me a friend of theirs downloades 400 Gb
worth of magic files in his drive. Thats a 400 dvd/cds worth! And these kids/teenagers apparently share these downloads in schools!

I told them it is utterly wrong to do that.

If this becomes rampant, what will be the plight of magic shops?

I think personally setting up a magic store is not a good idea.

Sad but what to do. Same for bookshops and a lot of brick and motor shops really. It can't be helped. So instead of blaming the net for that , I am changing my marketing strategy. Instead of selling information , magic DVDs , I am selling skills. Thats why I am thinking of planning to convert part of the shop to small magic class.

So its not just knowing how to play with cards but becoming an entertainer and gain self-confidence though mastery of ancient art. :P

I pm you this friday after I got the keys? Right now its 50% sure confirmed but I want to be 100% sure.

I hope you can do some survey before starting a magic class. There are certain things that is not yours to teach. And please don't follow the business model of some shops in Singapore. :)

Hey, I am interested to know about your shop. Can PM me too.

me too, i am interested

I will pm you guys ASAP don't worry. We are doing last min negotiations on some minor points in the contract.

Actually I won't be teaching. I can't even do fanning the deck properly yet. What I meant is that I will let the place be magic "tuition center" for others. If some people here know magic well and would like to teach but don't like the trouble of finding a place and signing contracts and doing it full-time then you can do it part-time , say on weekends.

See the difference? I got no license nor skills but I am to provide a place for others to conduct their business and I get the slice of the pie of course. But then you don't have to worry about rentals and PUB bills and all those things. Just come and sit in front of the table and start teaching.

Eventually , I will becoming much better and then I can start doing it on my own. Not now definitely.

Hey wickedpuppy, can pm me your shop location too. Would like to drop by and visit =)

I'm interested too. Nice idea you have, it's like using stone killing don't know how many birds. =)

Get to know people, teaching, performing, etc...

Hi, can tell me your shop location also? (on PM of course)

Hey pm me too! :D

just asking ... are u still opening the shop?

Hihi! May I also ask for the shop's location? Would love to drop by for a visit! B)

Thanks thanks! :g:

Melinda
:wub:

Sorry to dig up an old post, my apologies.

Magic is a niche, and finding people with the same hobby is quite challenging. Assuming this shop is around, will some kind soul PM me the address too? :)

PM me too :)

btw, is your shop opened? hehe.. interesting shop to be.