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mattneufeld Regular user 119 Posts |
The acidly-despised "Magic Zone" kiosk at the sprawling Arundel Mills Mall in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, has disappeared like so many sponge balls and chosen cards. It seemed to be there one moment...and gone shortly thereafter. During an amusing visit to this overwhelming, over-sized behemoth of a shopping extravaganza known as Arundel Mills on a recent Sunday, the little blue kiosk--that used to house a few D-Lites, a few Invisible Decks and, it seemed from a recent cursory examination, some horribly-overpriced "kits" that contained some elementary magic aspects--was sitting empty. No sign, no warning, just empty, like a lone production box that had parted from its brightly-lit silks. A few questions were posed to other, nearby kiosk and shop attendants, and they all said it did not do the business required to sustain itself, it never seemed to own a clear vision, it appeared somewhat questionable as to the content of its kiosk, people just plain didn't like it, some didn't understand what it was the little business was trying to do, and, overall, it didn't do a decent business. No one seemed to miss it. Whilst I wish poor fortune on no one, I somehow nevertheless found myself walking out of the mall with a smile on my face.
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Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
Why was this so disliked?
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
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Steven Steele Chief of Staff 1868 Posts |
I can not speak for matt, but in Ontario, CA there was one for a while. It was staffed by teenagers who had no clue about magic or how to present it. They were selling effects used by professionals, overpriced, and presented as very simple toys. They walked around with 2 or 3 d'lites on each hand basically showing everybody what a neat light they had on their fingertips. They had their girlfriends and others hanging around playing with the d'lites too.
As most knowledgable magicians will tell you, magic without presentation is nothing. That's what they sold and the public responded, appropriately. I have watched 3 other kiosks operate in the exact same way and they too, are gone. The Magic Zone has been discussed in other threads in the past. If you are interested, you can search in this year's posts as well as the archives.
Coram Deo
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Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
Thanks, Steven. What a nightmare. I would have been so upset to see our craft treated like this!
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
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davidcarlo New user 55 Posts |
Wait til next holidays--they'll be back.
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mattneufeld Regular user 119 Posts |
No, from the scuttlebutt around the industry, from some dealers and from some folks at, at least, Arundel Mills Mall in Anne Arundel County, Md., this whole endeavor was a fiasco, from the corporate top to the teenage idiots described above at the bottom. Like The Magic Café predicted last year, this was a horrible move by some basically non-magic bumblers that was destined to fail--and it did. It likely won't be back, and magicians should celebrate that fact.
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amshake Regular user 164 Posts |
I can speak on Magic Zone with confidence, for I was employed by them and was privy to the workings of the buisness. I was even aproached to run my own. The owner of the organization "Virgil" is a millionare of the "Metabolife" fame. He is wildly successful with this, as well with the "comfort zone" heating pad kiosk adventure. Magic Zone was actually the second incarnation of a magic shop that began as "instant magician" and idealistically was supposed to be a high-pressure sale of D'Lites (to which Virgil bought exclusive rights supposedly) and the "UFO Card" along with some other "add-on" sales. The whole idea was flawed, in that it was overpriced and marked to people who only had a passing curiosity. Aparently there were a few successful kiosks, but they quickly ran out of customers. The group I had contact with and worked for closed down after 7 months due to illegal dealings and corruption. The whole aspect of that kiosk depended on ripoffs and was NEVER intended to service a real magician. The only positive I can say is that I was paid to practice for 8 hours a day.
I would also point out to Steven, that the one in Ontario, CA was run by the same people that ran the one I worked for. When they ran from the situation here (literally owing many people money and other legal problems) they went to Ontario. I can only assume that the same has happened in Ontario, though if you still have a "comfort zone" there, they may still be around. If you are so inclined, PM me and I can get more detailed. I wouldn't mind seeing things done to keep them out of buisness. I want to end by saying that there were people involved in the organization that are not inherently bad, including Magician Roco (whom I spoke with on multiple ocasions), and even the head man Virgil, but I know for sure that there were some who were corrupt!
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Adam Shake Vice President of the Peoria Magicians Assembly IBM and SAM Member Magic Geek |
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RandyStewart Inner circle Texas (USA) 1989 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-03-14 16:51, Steven Steele wrote: OMG! I'll take the long nails down a chalkboard for 3 straight days and a sledge hammer to the head over the site of such kiosks! |
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mattneufeld Regular user 119 Posts |
Amshake: Hey, thanks for the inside story! What a complete, and somewhat odd, fiasco! Thanks again.
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Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
I find it very sad that you all wish Roco and others to fail in life and business. You do not want them to succeed and be paid for their efforts.
If they choose to sell to a layman and that layman gets interested in magic, he can contribute to magic as a whole. How at all do you find this bad? Also you are the same people who complain about the high prices of magic. If items cannot be mass marketed you will have higher prices in magic across the board. How you can stop such a business is to buy all the products produced and then buy the rights and take it off the market. |
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Steven Steele Chief of Staff 1868 Posts |
With all due respect wmhegbli, I'm not sure I understand how you made the logical jump from our dislike of the kiosks and how it was run to wishing Roco and others to fail in life and business.
Please remember at least one poster stated "there were people involved in the organization that are not inherently bad, including Magician Roco." Wishing people to fail in life and business didn't even remotely cross my mind when writing or reading the prior posts; so I am at a loss relative to your logic. In any event, that being said, I don't know what everybody's experience in magic is or their history, but I've been involved in the art for over 40 years. I remember the days when magic shops were hidden and not easily found by the general public. (Most notably, Yogi's Magic Mart in Baltimore, Maryland and Joe Berg's shop in Hollywood, California.) Magicians would spend hours in those shops talking to the pros hanging around and I have a lot of great memories of those days. Books were released only rarely and I remember waiting months for a highly anticipated volume to be released. Today, magic can be found virtually everywhere. There are good things about it and bad. The good things are that more people can get involved in the art than in the past because it is much more available. However, the flip side is that much of the art has been cheapened and the "mysterious" lustor of the art has been tarnished to some extent. I would hope that anybody wanting to work or create a business would be successful, but not at the cost of what I believe to be a true art and not some "nickle trick" that anybody can do. It's an insult to me to see magic portrayed in that manner. I hope this clears any confusion you may have had.
Coram Deo
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redstreak Inner circle A.K.A David Kong 1368 Posts |
We don't wish Roco to fail; he is a great inventor. Just one person who is selling his stuff.
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MJ Marrs Inner circle Los Angeles 1124 Posts |
One of the highlights in my life was watching a freakin' dollar bill float right in front of my eyes. This was many, many years ago, but I remember the feeling of wonder like it was just yesterday.
It's a darn shame that when kids today see a floating dollar bill they don't have a sense of wonder. Instead they're like, "I saw a guy using that magic string to float a card in Las Vegas." Or, "My little cousin's got some of that magic string." I don't care how you want to rationalize things. (Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all--there are better ways to use invisible thread, how about the kids who can't get to a magic shop, these guys need to make a living too, ad nauseum...) The bottom line is that magic is built upon secrets. If folks want to learn the secrets, then there are places and means to do so. Shoving these secrets down the throats of the general public does nothing to further the art. Do these Magic Zone opportunists destroy the art of magic? No. Do they make my job as an entertainer more difficult? Yes. Am I unhappy that these places are closing left and right? NOPE! I don't wish ill will on anyone. But if these guys go bankrupt, I won't be the first one to shed a tear. Hehehehe! |
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Keith Raygor Special user Naples, FL 968 Posts |
Redstread,
I'm curious as to what you think Roco invented? Certainly not the D'Lite?!? A brief history of its origins may be in order. |
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Rob Johnston Inner circle Utah 2060 Posts |
I can only hope that the rest of the Magic Zones disappear.
Who owns The Magic Zone anyway?
"Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable." - Margot Fonteyn
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Joey Evans Special user Fort Myers, FL 535 Posts |
Magic Zone is owned by Virgil Klunder. He lives down here in Fort Myers, and is a nice man. I have spoken to him on several occasions. I am also good friends with Rocco, who also comes down here a couple times a year. That being said, so that I can say this.
The Magic Zone in its idea is not bad. I believe that it is a good idea, but magic stores and magic kiosks need special people to run them. You can't just pay someone six bucks an hour. It embarrasses the art. You can't however blame Virgil and ecspecially not Rocco for this. It's extremely difficult to franchise magic, because of the skill needed. I owned a magic store for a while here, and just didn't have the time to run it. Instead of hiring a teenager to sit in it, I sold it to a magician who would have the time. It does bother me when I see a magic zone being treated like an arcade. A hang out of friends, and these will inherently fail. However it isn't only Magic Zones that fall into this trap, many other "magic franchises." We now have a magic kiosk in our mall here that has a dollar bill permanently hanging by Invisible Thread from the top. So people walk up to it and just look at it and say, "Wow that's small thread." This is even owned by a magician! Ran of course by whoever signed up for the ad that week. For situations like this, a lot of the time the blame is on the management level. You could say Klunder should be more careful to who he sells it to, that may be so. It would most definetly insure it keeping a more reputable name, but that's guesswork. I mostly would like to see a franchise step up and say, you need to meet these qualifications consistently, not merely if you have the 12,000 dollar investment. That is my 2 cents, Joey Brummett
The Visual Comedy and Magic of Joey Evans
http://www.Evansmagic.com/ The Impossible Has Never Been So Funny! |
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Rob Johnston Inner circle Utah 2060 Posts |
Thanks for the post Joey.
A lot of people are angered at these pathetic kiosks that are arrogant in their magical stock. I have my own problems with them as well. I think that many of us feel that these kiosks border on exposure and are completely against the Magician's Code. That is my main problem with all of these kiosks. I will not support them, but that is ok because they get the prepubescents who buy the trick to go and share with all their friends and associates.
"Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable." - Margot Fonteyn
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Bill Palmer Eternal Order Only Jonathan Townsend has more than 24312 Posts |
There was a Magic Zone in Katy Mills Mall near Houston for a while. The fellow who ran it really tried to make it work. He was careful not to sell things that were too difficult to do to people who couldn't do them (not that there was that much in their stock!)
Consequently, it folded.
"The Swatter"
Founder of CODBAMMC My Chickasaw name is "Throws Money at Cups." www.cupsandballsmuseum.com |
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Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
I just got back for traveling with Professional Magician Dick Stoner. He performed lunchen Cleveland and gave magic lectures in the area at nite.
He is magic store owner also as well as a Trade Show magician. I was really disappointed that the 2 clubs did not purchase much at these lectures. After traveling for 7 hours and only selling $200 in lecture material is very sad. How can anyone make a living when the magic society will not support the trade. It is those nickel tricks that keep the magic stores alive so you can have your more professional merchandise. Being there is only approx. 4 thousand magicians that belong to the IBM and SAM, do you really think they can stay in business on your occassional purchase? Dick Stoner still does the Linking Rings even after they were exposed on the Masked Magician. He still gets great results from his routine. Selling magic to the general public does not hurt your performance. If you worry about a comment, then maybe you should practice more and learn to entertain with your magic. Sure you should not give your business to these type of businesses. You know better. So let the guy make a living and let him alone. |
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magicswan Loyal user springfield,ma 253 Posts |
I almost bought one. I sent Virgil my resume and letter of interest. I got a job the next day in a mall in California (the name escapes me) but it was run by a guy named Billy Chang. He had 3 or four of them and he would hire just about any one, so it was kind of hard to take the place seriously.
People just want to know how things work and see free magic. It's a money making thing. I would have to recite a script and perform only the tricks that we were trying to sell. Good idea, bad location. |
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