My girlfriend and I were wandering around the malls in North Edsa last Saturday to have a break from all the stress that we have been receiving from work the past week. We went to SM North and looked for a kiosk: "It's Magic", a magic shop that caters not only to beginner magicians but also to professional ones.
It might be quite confusing if you try to find the shop because it is located near the cinema. Well although SM North's cinemas are on the same floor, they are divided in two sections and each section is located at opposite ends of the mall. The two cinemas' lobbies also look the same that's why it's confusing if you try to find a shop that is near the cinemas.
It is a small kiosk and there is a magician that regularly performs or demonstrates the products that they sell. I was actually looking for a close up mat and sponge balls and to my surprise the prices were really high. Compared to the prices in online shops the products there are really very expensive.
Online shops actually sell much cheaper products if I convert them to our local currency. An example of this is the close up mat which is on the average around $10. Well it depends on the size but I think the one that they are selling in that shop measures around 12"x17" Well I'm not sure though about the size but imagine if on the internet that cost around $10 here the price is doubled or sometimes even tripled. Another is the sponge ball well online you could buy for a bag of 10 sponge balls at the average of $0.50 per ball depending on the size. Here one ball, depending from whom you will buy would be about the prize of four or eight balls on an online shop .
I really can't imagine how expensive are the stuff that they have until I noticed a very small cups and balls set. I asked the shop attendant why is that set very small. He just replied "Well you don't really pay for the apparatus you pay for its secret". I was quite disappointed when I heard that because some magicians like me might only require the apparatus itself not it's secret because they already know it.
Well I just thought to myself that it's a business and in order for a business to earn revenue it must offer something more to a customer. In this case it's the trick and it's secret that is being sold as a package. Also for me it's the concept of added value wherein an object becomes more expensive if it undergoes a process rather than buying it just the way it is. Basically it's the same with their stuff wherein they add its secret therefore becoming more expensive.
Maybe another thing is that there aren't any local manufacturer's of magician's stuff here. All must be imported from somewhere else and I think it's what makes it expensive. If only we could remove our colonial mentality that imported stuff are better and start learning how we could make the same stuff locally we might be able to make stuff like this available at least to starting magicians.
Well I'm just hoping that someday they will have a 50% off sale so that I could buy a lot of stuff from the shop. Better yet if they could sell some apparatus without the secret for a much lower price.
For more info on magic supplies here you may read this article
Magic suppliers in the Philippines
It might be quite confusing if you try to find the shop because it is located near the cinema. Well although SM North's cinemas are on the same floor, they are divided in two sections and each section is located at opposite ends of the mall. The two cinemas' lobbies also look the same that's why it's confusing if you try to find a shop that is near the cinemas.
It is a small kiosk and there is a magician that regularly performs or demonstrates the products that they sell. I was actually looking for a close up mat and sponge balls and to my surprise the prices were really high. Compared to the prices in online shops the products there are really very expensive.
Online shops actually sell much cheaper products if I convert them to our local currency. An example of this is the close up mat which is on the average around $10. Well it depends on the size but I think the one that they are selling in that shop measures around 12"x17" Well I'm not sure though about the size but imagine if on the internet that cost around $10 here the price is doubled or sometimes even tripled. Another is the sponge ball well online you could buy for a bag of 10 sponge balls at the average of $0.50 per ball depending on the size. Here one ball, depending from whom you will buy would be about the prize of four or eight balls on an online shop .
I really can't imagine how expensive are the stuff that they have until I noticed a very small cups and balls set. I asked the shop attendant why is that set very small. He just replied "Well you don't really pay for the apparatus you pay for its secret". I was quite disappointed when I heard that because some magicians like me might only require the apparatus itself not it's secret because they already know it.
Well I just thought to myself that it's a business and in order for a business to earn revenue it must offer something more to a customer. In this case it's the trick and it's secret that is being sold as a package. Also for me it's the concept of added value wherein an object becomes more expensive if it undergoes a process rather than buying it just the way it is. Basically it's the same with their stuff wherein they add its secret therefore becoming more expensive.
Maybe another thing is that there aren't any local manufacturer's of magician's stuff here. All must be imported from somewhere else and I think it's what makes it expensive. If only we could remove our colonial mentality that imported stuff are better and start learning how we could make the same stuff locally we might be able to make stuff like this available at least to starting magicians.
Well I'm just hoping that someday they will have a 50% off sale so that I could buy a lot of stuff from the shop. Better yet if they could sell some apparatus without the secret for a much lower price.
For more info on magic supplies here you may read this article
Magic suppliers in the Philippines
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