Warner Brothers announced last week that they are about to do something most people assumed they must have done long ago: Open a Harry Potter superstore. But apparently the magical moment is next summer, the place is New York, and the theme is “if you can brand it, you can sell it.”
The Wizarding World flagship store, next door to New York’s Flatiron Building, will spill out over three floors and 20,000 square feet, filled with everything Potter and Fantastic Beasts, from robes (personalized) to Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor (Jelly) Beans to a new line of magic wands to be sold only in the New York store.
While it’s the first dedicated store, it’s not the first Warner Brothers effort to make the most of the Wizarding World brand; it also operates the Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London, focused on the making of the movies, and has a chain of smaller Platform 93/4 shops, including one right at Platform 93/4 in Kings Cross Station, London.
