Well, it’s public now that Hocus Pocus in Fresno has closed. For me, this is the end of the “family magic shop” era. Aside from Stevens Magic Emporium, there really aren’t any prominent family run magic shops in the USA anymore. Yes, there are some smaller ones, but not really any with national/international reach.
I first met Paul and Betty Gross when I was performing at The Big Fresno Fair about a decade ago. They came to the fair and watched my show, and then they introduced themselves. I had done business with Paul Gross long before that. Hocus-Pocus was the second shop to sell my Evaporation trick. The first was Max Krause’s magic shop, but he called me at around 10pm, right after I had sent out an email to magic shops announcing the product. Paul put in an order the next morning and he immediately sold out and reordered.
After Paul’s passing, I continued doing business with Hocus Pocus when Max took over. Max was involved before that, but he became the face of the business at that point. For not being a magician, Max knew a lot about the industry and a ton about collectible magic!
That brings us to today (technically last night) with them officially being closed. Last week I got a call from them giving me a heads up about it, and I immediately booked a flight down to say good by to them. Every magic product I’ve released for the last decade has been through them, and it’s been a great relationship.
It’s sad to see this shop going away, and it was great to chat with them about what’s next. Max is a super smart guy, and he kept his Dad’s dream alive and now he’s working on his dream, and I wish him and the rest of the family the best!
-Louie
Sad to see Hocus Pocus close their door. They were (are) good people and they ran a good business. I was excited to see Max expanding into the line of custom-made 3D-printed magic apparatus and had some good email conversations with him about possible future additions to their line of 3D-printed props. Frustrating to see these great magic shops shut down. It’s a tough business to survive in. I hope Stevens, Abbott’s and Magic Inc. can survive a while longer . Those are the only long time family-run shops I can think of which still exist. (there may be others?) Oh, also Williams Magic in Arizona.
I’ve determined the average lifespan of an owner operated magic shop is 50 years. That’s about the working lifespan of the owner. Making the transition past the original owner is touch, and Abbotts and Magic Inc really did that before the internet, so they were able to hold their clients a bit more than now.
Steven’s I’ve heard no longer has a physical location after the fire a few years ago, so it’s just a mail order place now.
There are tons of owner operated shops still around. The huge challenge they’re facing of the overhead of running a physical location. One thing I’ve noticed is the modern magic shops that are making it have a theater or event space in the back.