HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE NAME CHANGE
MUGGLES, gather your galleons and your sickles – a shop is opening offering all the Harry Potter merchandise you could ever want.
The Harry Potter store is opening today in Cardiff’s Castle Arcade – and it’ll be selling all sorts of products and official merchandise from the franchise.
The shop has been given strict guidance from Warner Brothers, according to the owner.
“Basically, I have to make a couple of changes,” said Claire McCartney, who owns the shop.
“I can’t have an Azkaban ‘wanted poster’ but I’m going to do just a normal wanted poster.
“It also cannot be called a Harry Potter-themed shop, it has to be ‘a shop that sells Harry Potter merchandise.’ “Most of it’s just wording.” The shop, which was going to be called the Room of Requirement, is looking for a new name too.
“The name does need to be changed,” Claire said.
“I’ve been back in contact with them [Warner Bros] and said, ‘Can I send some name suggestions across to you to make sure they’re OK before I change it?’
“At the moment all the signs are up but I said to them, ‘Have I got a timescale to do this because I need to get my signs re-done and can I also run them past you first?’ As yet they haven’t got back to me.”
Claire is expecting some large crowds for the opening, after huge interest on the shop’s social media.
“We’re just opening and letting people in,” she says.
“The way people were talking online, we are expecting quite a few.”
The shop will be opening today at 10am to allow staff to get everything ready – but will normally open from 9.30am. It will be selling official merchandise and collectibles and most of the stock is already in – but not in large quantities, according to Claire.
And there will be an official launch party at the arcade venue, once everything is in the shop.
She added: “We are waiting on the official scarf and robe because they’re coming from abroad and haven’t arrived yet.
“It should be with us early next week.
“They’ve been slightly delayed but we don’t want to delay opening.
“In a couple of weeks we’re going to do an official launch party-type thing, once all of our stock has arrived.”