On October 16, 2021, we queue in front of “L’Echoppe Magique” at 12 rue Bossuet in Dijon. Some fans of the Harry Potter series wait several hours to meet Devon Murray, one of the actors of the saga. At the end of the year, France Bleu Bourgogne gives a voice to those who have marked 2021 and makes you heard Maxime Michel, the one who brought this magical universe to the capital of the Dukes.
This store dedicated to the “Harry Potter” universe opened in August 2020 and its success is complete. It is therefore natural that Maxime Michel has since opened two new boutiques. He now manages seven across France, a real business for this fan of the wizard with the round glasses.
France Bleu Bourgogne: Maxime Michel, in 2021 we still had a complicated health situation. However, you continue to live your dream since your Dijon store is doing very well!
Maxime Michel: We knew there would be this craze since in the four previous cities, the shops had attracted crowds. The small point of risk, it was perhaps because it was an opening just after the first major confinement that we experienced, so, it is true that there was uncertainty at this level. There was this fear of closing the shop once it opened. What happened elsewhere, unfortunately. Nevertheless, the fans were always there at the reopening.
After seven stores, is the passion for this saga still there? You are not jaded by this universe?
I’ve been a fan since I was 5, when I saw the first movie in the cinema and today I’m still a fan of the saga. Afterwards, obviously, now, I have an entrepreneurial vision. I don’t quite have the same vision I had before. However, I never tire of it and when I walk into one of my shops, it’s always a pleasure to see the decoration, the music and then the atmosphere that goes with it.
How do you manage to manage all these stores?
These are employees who are in my shops and who have great autonomy in their workstations.
Is it complicated to leave stores that you have designed yourself like that?
It’s very complicated, especially at the beginning for the first store. Then, very quickly, I understood that if we wanted to develop, anyway, we had no choice. Little by little, when we see that things are going well with the employees, we say to ourselves why not?
Harry Potter already affects two generations. Why not a third? “-Maxime Michel, manager of the Echoppe Magique
Let’s go back to a highlight of your Dijon store this year: you invited Devon Murray, who plays the role of Seamus Finnigan in the film saga. Is this something that will be able to be redone in Dijon?
It’s something every fan has been asking us ever since he came to the store. No, indeed, this is not the last time we received an actor in Dijon. However, we do not have a fixed date due to health circumstances.
Was it a childhood dream to meet one of the actors of the saga?
Yes of course! Now I’ve kind of got used to it. It was not the first actor I received. But it’s true that the first time we had an actor, it was really an exceptional event for me.
This meeting was a great success in Dijon. Do you think this craze for the saga will last for several more years?
My conviction is that yes, the franchise will stay in time. She’s been here for 25 years. Today, we are in the second generation who are fans of Harry Potter. Children are initiated by parents who were fans twenty years ago and suddenly, we have a lot of children who come to the store to buy products, accompanied by their parents. I think it will continue. If we are in the second generation, there is no reason why it should not affect a third generation in about twenty years.