Once upon a time, in the great city of Philadelphia, there were multiple magic shops. Today, there are none. This vanishing act both saddens and puzzles me, so in an attempt to understand its impact, I spoke with someone who has likely seen more magic than anyone I know—especially during this age of transition in how people purchase their magic. Teller, one-half of last month’s cover story, grew up in Philadelphia and was influenced by the stores he visited. What follows is a snippet of our lovely, nostalgia-filled conversation about what made magic shops different, and what happens when they go away.
Ben In an age of digitization—where we can easily get anything and everything online, including magic—what do you feel is lost alongside the disappearance of physical magic stores?
Teller Let’s first just look at the good side of things. It’s much easier nowadays, no matter where you are in the country, to get into magic. And it’s much easier to find a group of people that you can talk to or collaborate with than it was back in the days when you could only learn about magic if you went to a magic shop. I’m sure there are magicians who are resentful of this, magicians who would rather not have the information about magic out there. Except, as I learned from doing Fool Us, once you’re in the room with somebody who is doing good magic, the secrets that you would learn in a magic shop become a lot less important.