New Kid on the Block

Johnny Thompson, Banachek, and Dexter.

That's right, everybody--there's a new kid on the block. My good friend Dexter has now joined the Hocus Pocus Team. Dexter has been a good friend for a many number of years. You may recognize his name as we have marketed many of his effects (which were best sellers, by the way). He was busy last year and the beginning of this year as a magic consultant for Criss Angel's Mindfreak series, which we hear will begin another new season at the beginning of 2007. With the addition of Dexter, our crew here is more knowledgeable than ever before! When you call, be sure to welcome Dexter and introduce yourself. If you are wondering about Jeremy, he is still here at Hocus Pocus as Inventory Control Manager of our warehouse, keeping tabs on the vast inventory that keeps changing and growing. He absolutely loves his new position and is doing a wonderful job!


Robert Baxt

Wednesday, I had a short visit from Robert Baxt, where he was on his way to the Bay Area for both lecturing and performing. He and I are working on two new projects which will be announced in the very near future. We're putting the final touches on them, so stay tuned to the web site for more information. Robert never ceases to amaze me with his creativity and clever routining, and you'll be able to reap the rewards.

It's been extremely busy as you can tell from the photos below. We had to hire two new people temporarily in the warehouse to take care of the extra load. It's been a record shipping week with 2 UPS deliveries in the morning, 2 deliveries in the afternoon, and 2 pickups in the afternoon. This plus the USPS is picking up twice a week as well. Just take a look at the videos alone going out one day this week after our inventory blowout sale!


Videos and boxes as far as the eye can see!


An early morning shipment.

The heat here has broken all records this year. The average has been between 117 to 119 for the last fourteen days! Even the air conditioners can't cool the place down below 85 degrees! The big news here is that a "cooling trend" is coming in, making the heat more bearable in the double digits again, with an expected high of 96 degrees on Sunday. WE CAN'T WAIT!

On the home front, my eldest son, Cole, leaves for college in just three short weeks! Betty is preparing for his departure by placing "For Rent" signs outside of his room. Ha Ha. Of course, Max has already gotten dibs on Cole's room and is already packing his things up. You'd think the both of them were leaving home! My oldest daughter, Renee, is moving back to Fresno after graduating college. In just 2 weeks, she'll be back home renting a brand new and very nice apartment, and she's taken a management position with Gottschalks (a California and Oregon chain of department stores). She's extremely excited about her new position and being close to family again, and we are as well.

So, wherever you are, I certainly hope it's cooler than it is here. If not, be sure to stay cool however you can and until next time,

Paul

Hot Off the Presses

Greetings from the hottest city in California! It's only 112 degrees here today, and that's in the shade! We're doing our best to keep cool with the impending threats of rolling blackouts hitting us daily. Tuesday afternoon, it was a sweltering 116 degrees here and just down the street, a main transformer blew out, plunging us all into darkness. Over 85,000 homes and businesses were without power for a few hours until backup arrived. Fortunately for us, it was the end of the business day, and we didn't have to suffer all that much. Wednesday morning, all was returned to normal as power was restored and it was full steam ahead.

You may recall several weeks ago that I mentioned that a local newspaper reporter was coming to do a story on Hocus Pocus. It ran as a feature article in last Sunday's paper and we posted it below for you to read!

Shopping Magic

A Fresno store sells its tricks worldwide.

Veteran magician Tony Blanco manages the Hocus Pocus Magic Shop, which supplies some of the world's most famous magicians.

By Rick Bentley / The Fresno Bee

(Updated Sunday, July 16, 2006, 7:09 AM)

For years, local amateur magicians and professional prestidigitators from around the country and around the world have crowded into the small Hocus Pocus Magic Shop in Fresno.

The unassuming building, just a cloud of dust away from busy McKinley Avenue, has served as both the base for a hefty mail-order business and busy in-store traffic.

The shop's owner, Paul Gross, is able to pull a dove out of thin air. That skill didn't help him when he had to figure out a way to squeeze one more magic book, prop or client into the shop's small space.

The need for more space comes from the growth of the business every year. What started as a small shop for local magicians and consumers has grown to an internationally-known business.

"There are magicians from Europe who will take a day or two when they come to the United States to make a trip to Fresno," Gross says. "We have magicians from all over the United States visit all the time."

That long-distance appreciation coupled with local interest and a booming Internet business has made Hocus Pocus a major hub for the world of magic.

Magicians outside the central San Joaquin Valley found out about the local store through advertisements in national magic magazines or through word-of-mouth praise from the tight-knit magic community.

"Over the past 10 years, Hocus Pocus has become one of, if not the, biggest magic dealers in the country. It has become a gathering place for magicians, but not necessarily in person. Most is done through the Internet," says Louis Hirshorn, a Los Angeles resident and amateur magician. "It is sad to see all of the magic shops that are either downsizing or going out of business.

"It is great to see that Paul's shop is growing."

Hirshorn, who works in the music licensing department at Disney, has been ordering magic items from Gross for years. He explains that one of the big reasons Hocus Pocus has grown is the professional way the company does business, combined with some of the best customer service Hirshorn ever has seen.

What started out as a business relationship between Hirshorn and the Hocus Pocus staff has turned into a close friendship. On a recent buying trip here, Hirshorn ended up staying at Gross' home during the weekend visit.

The new location of Hocus Pocus has a showroom featuring magic props. The Internet has worked magic on the once-small, locals-only store; it now is a worldwide supplier to famous magicians and others.

"They are part of my magic family," Hirshorn adds.

While in Fresno, Hirshorn got to see the new site for Hocus Pocus. A building was found just a few blocks from the previous site. Gross moved his shop — lock, stock and wand — to the new location two months ago. He had been in the previous location for 10 years.

The size of the new building is as different as a card trick is from making an elephant disappear.

"We wanted to move a few years ago, but the landlord didn't want us to go. We stayed for a while, but the space just was too small," Gross says.

The previous location was 3,800 square feet. Gross moved the business into that location in 1998 from a shop that was only 650 square feet. Both of the previous homes for Hocus Pocus could be placed inside the new shop that covers 10,000 square feet.

A factor in the growth has been the recent surge in interest in magic. Large touring shows and television specials featuring the likes of David Copperfield, David Blaine, Criss Angel, and Lance Burton have sparked interest in magic and illusions.

The larger shop space also matches the ever-expanding love Gross has for the world of magic. He started as a performer 45 years ago after his grandfather took him to see a vaudeville show at Fresno's White Theater. His greatest inspiration was local magician Don Olson, who worked with Houdini and Harry Blackstone Sr.

Gross opened his first magic store in November 1974. His clients were local magicians who would come by to see the latest card trick or new illusion. There's less off-the-street traffic these days. The doors are open to those who want to buy the latest magic trick. But it's necessary to call in advance because most of the day is devoted to filling mail orders. By late afternoon, all of that day's shipments have been sent out the door.

But there are those who just stop by the store. Just recently, the road crew for Ozzfest stopped by to purchase items to be incorporated into the traveling rock show.

The mail-order side is the lion's share of the shop's business. Items get shipped to the four corners of the planet because of Internet shopping.

Gross estimates that 38% of the shop's business goes to overseas buyers.

What has attracted the booming interest by so many professional and amateur magicians are the huge shelves packed with a wide assortment of magic items: The Face by Borodin, The Breath of Fate, The Super Chair and The Black Widow Fire Purse.

If you have to ask what those items are, then it is better to stick with simple decks of cards and small magic rings.

"Paul has even made deals with magic creators to be the exclusive dealer of certain magic tricks," Hirshorn says.

The booming business didn't just cause a need for more space. Gross finally decided he needed to get some professional help.

"This is a specialized business. We just can't hire anybody. They have to have knowledge. Finding someone to fit the bill was difficult," Gross says.

Magician Tony Blanco agreed to leave the magic circuit in Las Vegas to join the shop staff a year ago. He had been a client of Hocus Pocus Magic for years.

"A lot of other magic shops have closed in recent years. They did not jump on the Internet part of the business, and that was a big mistake," Blanco says.

Just like Gross, Blanco found magic at a very early age. He got his first magic kit when he was 7. But it wasn't until he was a teenager that Blanco got serious about magic. His first paying job was as a street performer in New York's Central Park.

Blanco is a graduate of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. The skilled magic prop, puppet and costume designer and builder has been performing since 1977. In Las Vegas, he worked at Circus Circus, the Riviera, Dunes, Harrahs and Excalibur.

"It is great having him here. He works with all the customers. Tony has all kinds of patience," Gross says. "He also has a lot of talents. He can juggle, ride a unicycle, and if we need something built, he can do it. He is certainly a jack-of-all-trades."

Blanco is happy he made the move to Fresno. His work at the shop allows him to deal with some of the biggest names in magic. Past clients have ranged from Doug Henning to David Copperfield. Blanco also performs at local parties, business meetings and other events that need a little magic.

"Magic takes you to places you never thought you would be going. That's one of the things I have loved about being a magician," Blanco says. He's talking about how his interest in magic led to training in such diverse areas as stilt walking, fire-eating and writing.

Blanco also could be talking about his moves from New York to Las Vegas to Fresno.

Another plus of moving to the new building is that Gross now has a place to display his collection of vintage magic props, games, books and other items. The majority of the magic memorabilia had to be stored at the other location.

Blanco points to a stack of cases against the outside wall of Gross' office.

"That was the heaviest thing we moved," Blanco says.

Inside the cases were the items needed for a plate- spinning act. Previously, the items were stored out of sight. Now, the ultra heavy plates are on display.

One of the biggest items on display is a chalkboard used by Harry Blackstone Jr. Gross recalls fondly how he had the chance on two occasions to be an audience participant for a trick when Blackstone visited Fresno.

One of the things that Gross wants to pass on to customers is the thrill of being part of an illusion. The new building is giving Gross a hands-on way to do that. Magic classes are going to be offered for those interested in learning a little sleight-of-hand.

The four-week adult workshops will be held Thursdays starting at 7 p.m. Aug. 17. A childrens workshop will be held Saturdays starting at 9 a.m. Aug. 19. The price for the program, including all props needed, is $100.

The reason the classes are being added, says Gross, is that interest in magic has been on the rise in the past five years. His proof is the new larger space for the magic shop.

Paul Gross owns the Hocus Pocus shop, which is plastered with posters of famous magicians, many of them personal friends of Gross.

For more information on the local magic shop, go to www.hocus-pocus.com

The weather reports a high of 119 degrees this weekend! WOW! Try to stay cool and keep us all in your prayers.

Until next time,

Paul

Ciao, Belli!

We all have the Italian spirit here at Hocus Pocus! After a 3 1/2 week vacation, Mike Giusti surprised us all by making an early appearance this week! Mike brought gifts for everyone from the different cities he visited, including an oil painting of a magician from a local artist in Verona. for me, which I've already hung in my office. Mike's been telling us some great stories and photos, which we'll share with you below. As many of you know, Mike is my right-hand guy, putting up text and images faster than anyone else in the industry. Being the company man that he is, he even took his laptop and updated the web site during his travels. Thanks for coming back early, Mike!

Fly, Boy, Fly! My son, Max, and I have decided to start raising White Homing Pigeons. My dad did this as a hobby, and the fact that Max is a true animal lover, makes this exciting. We had a large cage in the backyard where I keep my doves, and we've now added an additional space for the new pigeons. As there's nowhere in our area that sells them, I actually ordered them via the Internet, and they are due to arrive here sometime at the end of the month. I guess it's more than just magic that can be ordered over the 'net... Max has been spending most of his daytime fine tuning the cage, and he and I will build the roosting boxes this weekend. My house is now a regular Noah's Ark with 2 dogs, 15 tropical fish, 3 doves, 6 turtles, and soon-to-arrive pigeons! If anyone has any experience raising these Homing Pigeons, any advice you can send our way would be extremely helpful. Thank you in advance. We'll keep you posted and post more photos when they arrive.



You may have noticed that we've added a new feature to the front page of our web site. Entitled the "Hocus Pocus Clearance Center," this will be updated every week with products that are either one-of-a-kind, overstock, or discontinued merchandise. All the prices are way below our actual cost, which means you can save a bundle. Believe me, it's worth checking out regularly.

We had surprise visits from our good friend Lou Hirshorn from Los Angeles and a real long distance visit from Chris Kenworthy from Maryland! Both spent last weekend here, and they enjoyed seeing the new location and we had a great time going out to my favorite Italian restaurant last Saturday evening. Remember, if you're ever in the area, we'd love for you to stop by.

The weather has been in the triple digits with a high of 113 degrees! We're doing the best we can to stay cool, and I'm finding myself in the pool more this year than in the past. Hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll turn the blog over to Mike to post pictures from his trip. Enjoy.

Until next time,

Paul


Where's Waldo (or Mike)?


David in Florence


Naples


A view from Capri (Anacapri)


Anacapri Gardens


Ruins of Pompeii in Sorrento


Entrance to the Sistine Chapel


Prelude to the Sistine Chapel


Sistine Chapel


Sistine Chapel


The Vatican in Rome


Depiction of Moses at his burial site in Rome


The Colluseum in Rome


A view of the Colluseum's interior


The Arch of Constantine from the Colluseum


The Arch of Constantine in Rome


The Trevi Fountain in Rome


Trevi Fountain by night


The Pantheon in Rome


Mike's father's hometown of San Biase

Occasionally, there's more to life than Magic!

You know everybody, I love the world of magic; I really do. But sometimes you need to take a break. In last weeks blog I mentioned that every Fourth of July, I take my wife Betty and the kids to the quaint little town of Fowler, California about 15 miles south of Fresno. I love this place. It really is a small town like Mayberry from the old "Andy Griffith" TV show. While normally it's only got about 1,500 people I think a few more than that may have shown up for the July 4th celebration.
That's everyone waiting for the fireworks to start in the photo above.
Betty and Me taking it easy and taking a break from Hocus-Pocus.com My daughter, Aimee and my son Cole's girlfriend Amanda, having a great time too.
We're back at the old grindstone now at Hocus-Pocus, searching for the greatest magic tricks from around the globe and making them available to our customers. Our field agents were out in force at the IBM convention in Miami this past week and got us some great new effects; and now they're off to the national S.A.M. convention and on to FISM so we can continue to bring you the best. See the "Newest Items" page on our site for all that is fresh and keep on checking this page every week as I have some cool news and photos to share with you in later blogs that I really think you'll get a charge out of. Wait until you see the pictures that the Fresno Bee newspaper shot of our new location! "Wow!" is all I can say.
That's all for this week, until next time,
Paul

Newspapers, Holidays, & Robert Baxt!

Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone!
I just spent two and a half hours with reporter Rick Bentley from the Fresno Bee, which is the major newspaper in this area. They're doing a full page spread feature article on us in an upcoming edition next week, and were mighty impressed by our new location and facilities. Newspaper photographers are coming here next Thursday, so we'll include a link to the article when it reaches print in a future blog.
For my Fourth of July holiday, my wife Betty and I and the kids are going to the quaint little town of Fowler, California about 15 miles south of Fresno. It's close, but seems a million miles away because it's a place like Mayberry from the old "Andy Griffith" TV show. It's only got about 1,500 people and I and my family love going there every July as it's where Betty grew up and went to high school. Very peaceful and relaxing.
But there's been excitement here! Last week after publishing in the blog that I would let people come in if they called first, we got a frantic phone call from long time customer Chris Bent. He said he was on his way to San Francisco for a big show and desperately needed a bunch of items. He asked if we could stay open a few minutes past our normal closing time and I said "Sure" to help him out. Well a huge, black, professionally painted 18 wheeler truck pulls into our lot and it's part of the fleet that travels with the famous Ozzy Osbourne "Ozzfest". Turns out Chris' show was part of the San Francisco stop on the tour and we made a lot of music fans very happy helping out a customer.

So now I want to talk about my friend Robert Baxt. I've mentioned him a bunch of times before and someone asked me why I liked him so much. Well not only is Robert a funny guy, he's also a smart and intelligent one. And he's a nice guy, and you often don't find that combination all together in one person.
For instance, check out his website www.robertbaxt.com
I look at websites all day and all night long here at Hocus-Pocus and I must say that his is one of the best I've ever seen, not just for a performer, but for anybody! We love his tricks that we sell here, and on his site you can also see some videos of him doing shortened versions of those tricks that you won't find anywhere else. The videos for his Vanishiing iPod, Newspaper Tear, and Computer Cutie tricks are especially nice.
And for the hard core magic fans out there, I gotta' remind you that Robert is more than just a comedian. You know that the I.B.M. is having it's annual national convention and competition this week in Miami for best stage act, but few people remember that Robert won the stage competition when he was just out of his teens. He had a manip act that was out of this world! Lot's of unique and original magic to show off his chops and at the same time hysterically funny. He went on to win a FISM trophy for Comedy after that, but the thing to remember is that there is no comedy division in I.B.M. contests. Robert beat all the other magicians with his act, the first time that any comedy act had won over the "real" magicians. I have bought the rights to this contest act and with Robert's cooperation, I hope to put it out to the magic fraternity as a performance DVD with instructions for doing it. Robert doesn't perform it often anymore, but when he does it's a showstopper.
You shoould also know that Robert doesn't know that I'm writing this. If he did, he definitely wouldn't want you to see the second photograph of him below.

You see, on top of every other great thing I can say about Robert, and all the many and varied accomplishments in his life (Did you know he spoke Japanese? I didn't, until we needed help with a customer in Tokyo!) Robert has done what many would consider the greatest vanishing act of all time. Over the course of about five years, he took off through diet and exercise alone a ton of weight. That's definitely Robert in the black and white picture above. Look carefully and you'll see the same eyes, nose, and chin; just a much slimmer face. And he's been keeping the weight off for the past three years. I know because every time he visits Fresno, he disappears for two hours every night to go jogging. I have to give him credit where credit is due. Now I do not believe there is anything wrong with having weight loss surgery. Celebrities like Al Roker and Star Jones and the lead singer of the band "Blues Traveller" and lots of others do it all the time. It's helpful to us regular folks too, but Robert did it the tough way. I think Robert just felt that it was his job to take it off since he was the one who had put it on. That takes lots of courage and dedication and persistence. In every dealing I've ever had with Robert he's always said what he meant and meant what he said. He follows up and takes care of business the way few do. I like him and thought you would enjoy knowing a little more about him too.
That's all for this time, enjoy your holiday and I'll check in again next week.
Paul

Not "myspace", but shop space!

Good day everyone, and welcome to the June 22nd. edition of the hocus-pocus.com blog! In the photo to the right that's Israel's Guy Bavli sitting behind my desk with me. He was just here in Fresno when he took a side trip from a big corporate date he was doing in Los Angeles, California. He visited with his very atractive girlfriend, the well known Israeli actress Tali. Guy and I have been good friends for many years, but it's always great to see him in person. Guy has got two brand new mentalism effects that he will be relasing to us in the next month and while I'm not a mentalist, I do predict that they will blow the magic community away. Keep on top of the "What's New" section of our website for more info.
And for those who were asking, my son Cole is now happily registered at St. Mary's College in the Bay Area. It was a cool 67 degrees when I took him up there last weekend, but when I got back to Fresno it was 102 degrees. Lucky Cole!
You know everyone, I have to tell you that a day doesn't go by that I don't thank my lucky stars that I bit the bullet and decided to move to our new larger location. It's just down the street and around the corner from where we were for many years, but while that was a large space it was a store that had been designed for walk in retail traffic. And despite closing the doors to the public in that old location and moving to internet sales, we were still always cramped and jammed in with the huge inventory of stock we keep at all times to have on hand just about anything you ever wanted.
So with this new warehouse sized space we are literally about nine or ten times bigger than we were before. We're the size of a small supermarket or a commerical drugstore of the Walgreens, Rite-Aid, CVS, or Long's Drugs type. Despite our new large size, because of the increased flow of business we still do not usually open the doors to the public as retail sales would just slow us down from taking your internet and phone orders and shipping them out to you. Still, I have had so many requests for a peek inside, I thought I would share these photos with you.











As you can see, we have aisles and aisles of stock on the shelves that doesn't look pretty, but makes it easy for the shipping department to go up and down the rows of merchandise and pick the items you ordered off and send them to you. The office/showroom is a separate space from the warehouse stock area. It's as much for my personal enjoyment as for anything else. It's a room large enough to put over a dozen cars in and I've had some of my bigger posters hung on the walls and placed some of the antique magic and one of a kind items we have in stock just to make a beautiful display. My friend Robert Baxt was here and he had a great funny line for it. He said it was the way god would have a magic shop if god had the money! He said it compared favorably to David Copperfield’s museum space in Las Vegas and he would know as he's been David's guest there many times.
The far corner of the showroom has shelving just for the accumulated estate sale items we have. That's the photo in the lower left hand corner. I haven't even bothered to put up any photos of the shipping area not only because it's not that interesting, but because the gang there, under the supervision of my sister Jan, is always moving so fast to get orders out the pictures came out blurry! LOL! Also, there's a dead storage space that's filled with magic stuff that's not very photogenic, and I'm working on my office which is a separate room that overlooks the showroom with glass windows so I can look out on the beautiful display (but has blinds I can draw when I want some quiet time). I'm putting all my personal favorite pieces and mementoes of magic in there on a showcase left over from Buma's Magic Shop in San Francisco that I frequented when I was a kid. When I get my office where I want it, I'll share more photos of it in a future blog.
Okay, so if you've looked at all the photos and read this far I suppose you deserve a treat in return. Here it is: Despite what I just wrote that we are not usually open to the public, because we are so proud of our new space and want to show it off you are invited to visit anytime. Tony or myself will give you the guided tour. If you're in the Fresno area and have some items you really want, call us to make arrangements. You'll be glad you did! And watch for announcements in future weeks about the magic classes for kids and adults that will be held here.
That's all for this week, until next time,
Paul

Thursday, June 15th, 2006: Last Saturday's Graduation Party- The Photos!

I love digital cameras and the internet! Lots of photos this week, so please forgive me if the layout gets funky as the type moves unpredictably to accomodate the many pictures. Everybody, I wish you could have been there for the party I threw for my two grads! I hope you can get some of the flavor of the joy I felt in all the photos I'm posting this week. Starting from right to left at the top we have a view of the band and then the reverse side of the band looking back over the pool in my backyard and to the guest tables. Then there's a shot of the other side of my yard looking over the pool and towards the band you saw in the first photo. Next to that is the cake for my oldest son Cole who's now off to college. I'm taking him there this weekend so I'll report more on that next week.



Above is a memory board we put together for Cole and in the next photo Cole is the tall young man in the red shirt standing by the table that we displayed his and my other son Max's boards on. Below that are some photos of the guests enjoying themselves.
On the left is my younger son Max and his cake, while below is his highlights board and next to that a photo of one of my two daughters.


Finally, the picture on the right below is of the rock garden, bridge, and koi pond I built myself in the backyard. After a long hard day of finding great magic to sell to my many happy customers around the world on the internet, it really gives me and my wife Betty great pleasure to come out here in the cool of the evening and sit and relax and unwind. (And Betty, please forgive me that there were no pictures of you from the party! God knows that both you and I were working so hard to make sure everyone else had a good time, we barely had a minute to breathe! I couldn't get a second to get a picture of me either!) The only thing that slightly bothers me about my pond is that I've spent thousands of dollars at this point feeding the local birds who snack on my koi, so if anyone has any good suggestions for preserving my fish please let me know! And you know everyone, in the end, the happy memories that we have are so much more important to us than the grind of work. That's why there's very little mention of magic in this weeks blog, and also because most of the www.hocus-pocus.com staff was at the party having their own great time! That's a couple of them in the picture on the right, so I'll say goodbye to them and to you by wishing you all the happiest of memeories in your lives. More memories next week!
Paul