Browser's Den of Magic |
vs. |
The Occult Shop |
| Jeff Pinsky; established in 1975 by Len and Bernice Cooper |
Owner(s); year established: |
Richard (pictured) and Tamarra James; 1979 |
| The tricks involving cards, coins, sponge balls.… Nowadays, magicians call this street magic. | What’s the most popular item you sell? | Candles, which are burned as offerings to the saints and the gods. |
| If I demonstrate a trick, newer customers will think, ‘Well he can do it, but I can not.’ The only thing that matters is one’s performance. | Most common misconception about the items you carry? | That life’s toughest problems can be fixed by a spell that only takes half an hour to perform. |
| We do carry the oldest trick in existence: the cups and balls. Some models are handmade by a gentleman who lives up in Sioux Lookout! | Any particularly far-flung regions you source from? | We source dragon’s blood resin from Indonesia, palo santo herb from Peru and sandalwood from India. |
| Those really bitten by the magic bug should study classics like Modern Coin Magic. | Suggestions for reading material? | Secrets of the Psalms is directed to those seeking magic within their Christian background. |
| Some of our ventriloquist dolls were used in the original Goosebumps series. | Has anything made it onto the big screen — or vice versa? | In the ’80s we bought almost the entire props department off the film The Believers once shooting was finished. |
| We’re Canada’s oldest magic shop. We’ll be celebrating our 40th anniversary with a Nov. 8 party featuring magic demonstrations! | Doing anything special for Halloween? | We’ll be handing candy to children and then later in the evening attending a solemn religious service for remembering the dead. |
| 3220 Dufferin St., #19, 416-783-7022 |
1373 Bathurst St., 416-656-6564 |
