Larry Kahlow, long time proprietor of Eagle Magic Store—the oldest still operating brick-and-mortar magic shop in North America—was recently honored at the 2026 Academy of Magical Arts Awards show with a Special Fellowship. His comments are from a conversation with Derek Hughes.
Meet the Proprietor: Larry Kahlow
For me it all started with visiting Eagle Magic Store with my mother in 1958 to buy some tricks and jokes from the shop owner, Doris Davids. I was 9 years old and I got a set of rice bowls for my third-grade classroom talent show. I won! At that time the shop was located at Fifth Street and Fifth Avenue by the courthouse in downtown Minneapolis. But that wasn’t its original location or its original owner.
In 1895 Collins Pentz, a young man working as a pitchman for a traveling medicine show selling novelties under canvas, went to the Metropolitan Theater in Minneapolis and saw Alexander Herrmann perform his elaborate show Magic, Mirth, and Mystery. He was immediately interested in magic and magicians and, soon after, in 1899, Eagle Magic Store first opened its doors for business.
