JK Rowling is preparing to become even richer: the first official Harry Potter megastore will open its doors next summer in New York. The flagship store will occupy three floors of a building next to the iconic Flatiron, Eataly area, to be clear, in the heart of Manhattan.
"It will be the largest Harry Potter store in the world and a must-see for the most enthusiastic fans because of the interactive experiences and 'selfie' opportunities offered," said Sarah Roots, vice president of Warner Bros. travel and retail. the Hollywood studio of the films in the series. The date of the inauguration has yet to be fixed: the District Council unanimously contested the design of the Superette design studio to install architectural details (auctions for the dragon-shaped flag, for example), to modify the facade of the historic Broadway building, one of the first built exclusively for commercial purposes: "If Harry Potter can install a dragon, Nike will be able to install a shoe, and the baker around the corner will have a croissant. No one knows where it will end up," is was the motivation.
However, the Harry Potter shop opens in the face of a retail crisis in New York where department stores and boutiques continue to close and Madison Avenue seems to have become a cemetery of lowered shutters and vacant rooms. The flagship will debut 12 years after the last novel in the series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," proving that the magic of the world created by Rowling continues to generate profits: at the Broadway Lyric Theater the spinoff is still staged "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, "while skateboarding brand Vans last year baptized a collection of sneakers. Then there are obviously the online shop where you can already buy cloaks from wizards, Hogwarts uniforms and magic wands and the buying opportunities offered by Universal studios in Los Angeles and Orlando and Warner studios in London, but the flagship store "will host the most large collection of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts products around the world, "Warner said.