Are you a sad ‘muggle’ who is worried that your life does not have enough magic and is still secretly wishing to get their Hogwarts letter of acceptance? Well, while we cannot guarantee you a letter, your attempts at becoming a bit more magical are soon set to become a reality.
In a piece of amazing news for all Harry Potter fans, Warner Bros. is all geared up to open the world’s first-ever and largest Harry Potter flagship store in New York City in 2020.
The store will be located next to the Flatiron Building at 935 Broadway, and will house the largest-ever collection of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts merchandise.
A report in Forbes says that Hogwarts House robes, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans and wands are a few of the things that will be sold at the establishment.
Pottermore, the official Harry Potter website, quoted a senior Warner Bros. executive and said that the fans can engage in interactive experiences at the store.
“This will be the largest dedicated Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts store in the world and will become a must-visit fan destination where Wizarding World enthusiasts can engage with interactive experiences and numerous photo opportunities as they step into the magic,” said Sarah Roots, Senior Vice President for Worldwide Tours and Retail at Warner Bros.
According to Pottermore, the shop will also sell rare collectible items and hand-signed artwork.
While it remains to be seen what one will finally get at the store, here are the things that are already being said to be a part of the much-awaited establishment.
Hogwarts House robes: Are you daring and brave or ambitious and cunning? Every Harry Potter fan is aware of the four Hogwarts houses — Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff — and their different aspects or looks. So if you are as brave as a Gryffindor, as wise as a Ravenclaw, as loyal as a Hufflepuff or as ambitious as a Slytherin, the store will offer fans the robes of their choice.
Who knows, fans may also find silken pale blue robes from Beauxbatons and fur cloaks, fur hats, and blood-red robes from Durmstrang apart from Hogwarts.
Chocolate Frogs: “What are these? They’re not really frogs, are they?” This is a quote from the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone recounting the young wizard’s first encounter with magical chocolates. Popular chocolate in the Harry Potter world, they would come with a collectible card of a famous witch or wizard like Albus Dumbledore, Morgan le Fay, Ptolemy, Circe, Paracelsus, Merlin etc.
While the ones in the book were made from Croakoa, which allowed them to move about, it remains to be seen what the chocolate frogs in a muggle world would be like.
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans: One of the most popular sweet for youngsters at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they were advertised in the books as ‘Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans — A Risk With Every Mouthful!’
The risk as elaborated by Ron Weasley when he had told Harry in the Philosopher’s Stone, “You want to be careful with those. When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour.”
It could be interesting to see which flavours are included and if, like, much to the dismay of Albus Dumbledore, they have flavours like ‘vomit’ and ‘earwax.’
Wands: One artefact every muggle would want their hands on, the wand is the ultimate collectible for every Potterhead (a term for a Harry Potter fan). Harry Potter’s wand itself was 11 inches long, made of holly and possessed a phoenix feather core, which in the later books turned out to be a feather donated by Fawkes, Albus Dumbledore’s phoenix.
The lore of the book is also surrounded by the fact that Tom Riddle’s wand core also came from Fawkes, making the two wands “brothers”, a fact that was revealed by Garrick Ollivander, the wandmaker. As you step into the wizarding world of Harry Potter in the store, maybe you would be reminded of the words, that in the end, it is not the wizard who chooses his wand, but rather “The wand chooses the wizard.”
Rare collectible items, hand-signed artwork: Could it be a Time-Turner necklace or an invisible cloak? Could it possibly be Ravenclaw’s long lost diadem or maybe Tom Riddle’s evil diary? The Pottermore website points to a number of rare artefacts from the Harry Potter universe that could make it to the new store. They have also revealed that hand-signed artwork by the likes of Olly Moss and Lesley Buckingham could be featured in the store as well.
