SHILLINGTON, Pa. – Inside this unassuming little shop on Lancaster Avenue is a world of wonder and mystery.
Wayne Shifflet bought Mingus Magic Shop on May 20, 1976, 50 years ago, from the original owner, Leroy Mingus, who took him under his wing creating feather flower magic at just 16 years old.
“We make bouquets that come out of handkerchiefs or sleeves, we make ones that multiply, they change color, they bloom, they vanish. They do all kinds of stuff,” explained Shifflet.
“When you buy magic, you’re actually buying the secret,” he added. “That’s what you’re paying for.”
“Magic is the only business in the world that doesn’t want every single person to buy their product, because if everybody bought the product, then it wouldn’t exist,” said Berks County native Wayne Hoffman.
Like Shifflet, Hoffman, a mentalist and illusionist, grew up at Mingus Magic shop.
“I was ten when I first found the shop and I walked in and it’s this mystical place and I slowly started learning magic in this shop,” Hoffman recalled.
Tale of this tiny shop of magical treasures goes far beyond Berks County though.
“Almost three years ago I got a call from David Copperfield,” said Shifflet. “He apparently had a trick when he was 12 years old that was made by the Mingus Magic Shop by Leroy Mingus. He didn’t have it anymore [and] he wanted me to make him one.”
Numerous other well-known names in magic also have connection to the little shop in Berks.
Something that started with a spark, flourished over the decades and in a poof, it’s been half a century and is still a driving force in the magic world all these years later.
“I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I can’t play a musical instrument. But somehow, I found magic,” said Shifflet.
Mingus Magic Shop is open Saturdays from 12 to 5 and by appointment.