"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." Vincent Van Gogh

This post is a coming in a few days late. I had so many convention stops last month that I’ve been playing catch up all week long and I’ve finally found a few moments to mention this Elmwood Magic milestone...

May 1st marked our 17th year in business.

I worked for many years in the world of magic prior to that date in 1993 - but when I made the move to open my own place, it was a whole new ballgame. With the help of my good friends Rob & Carol Allen, I opened the doors to our first location: a six hundred square foot shop jam packed with magic on the popular and eclectic Elmwood Avenue in downtown Buffalo, NY. I was 22 years old.

I spent most days pitching Svengali Decks, Nickels to Dimes, Ball & Vases, and the like to curiosity seekers wandering inside. Most opened the door because they had no idea what we sold...some just needed change for the parking meters! But I’d like to think that if you spent just a few minutes inside - if you soaked in the surroundings for a moment or two - you could not help but realize that you were somewhere special. Or at the very least, someplace very different than any other store along the Elmwood Strip.

In seventeen years we grew from that little shop on Elmwood Avenue into one of the largest magic dealers and producers in the world. I seldom made giant decisions to bring us to that place. It was primarily a long list of small tweaks...a gradual transformation. What will happen in the next seventeen years? I didn’t know back then, so I won’t claim to know now but I will say this...

I hear lots of magic dealers saying the sky is falling.

I say - we’re still tweaking. Frankly, we’re just getting warmed up.

Stick around.