COUNTY NEWS: Wizarding shop to put Potter fans under its spell

Harry Potter super-fan Oliver Thomas Dall is to open a wizarding shop, bringing Diagon Alley to Sussex.
Oliver Thomas Dall is set to open a wizarding shop in BrightonOliver Thomas Dall is set to open a wizarding shop in Brighton
Oliver Thomas Dall is set to open a wizarding shop in Brighton

Selling official Harry Potter merchandise, budding witches and wizards will be able to buy their wand, their house uniform and magical confectionery at the Brighton shop set to open in November.

Mr Dall, 26, explained how he came up with the idea for ‘Oliver’s’ - not dissimilar from fictional wand shop Ollivander’s.

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He said: “I have always loved Harry Potter from reading the books. Collecting the memorabilia started from the chocolate frogs. If you love something you collect it.”

He then thought Brighton – his home for seven years – was the perfect place to set up shop, as it’s ‘very Diagon Alley’.

It was a stroke of luck that Ziggy’s, an old music shop on Trafalgar Street was on the market.

“It is very Ollivander’s-style and very old school,” said Mr Dall.

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He then got onto the companies that produce the official merchandise, and said they were on board to supply his wizarding shop.

Work started on the shop yesterday (Thursday), to transform it into a wizarding wonderland.

Mr Dall said: “We want it to feel like a movie set. I want people to walk in a go ‘wow’. We’re talking open brickwork, moving portraits, the Hogwarts Express in the store as well.”

He said the back wall will be a display for the wands – of which there are 60 to 80 to choose from.

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There will be uniforms for all four houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, as well as a confectionary area, character figures, mugs and other collectables.

“The reason I am doing this is its the closest I can get to going to Hogwarts,” Mr Dall said. “This is the closest to being a wizard.”

To find out more, visit: www.oliversbrighton.co.uk

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