HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Nothing might be up his sleeve, but you’ll find plenty inside Hun Woo’s store. From the strange and sublime to sleight of hand.
The name of the game at his Lakeside institution? Tricks.
“You’ve got to be the creative stuff. The showman. It’s fun," said Woo. “It makes me feel good to make other people happy to be honest with you.”
Woo opened Divine Magic and Novelties seventeen years ago where every day he proves the hands truly are quicker than the eye.
“I was about 7 and this is the first trick I learned and I still love it today. It is called the ball and the vase," said Woo.
Hun Woo
Woo remembers getting hooked on magic watching the Ed Sullivan show decades ago.
“I always liked that kind of stuff. I just wanted to know how they did it," he said.
Woo doesn’t hold his cards close to the vest.
"You can do things that you never thought was possible," said the magician.
He finds great joy passing on tricks of the trade with budding magicians.
Hun Woo
“They come in here and become like family. You get to know them," he said.
Christian Michael, 19, has been dabbling in magic for two years. The VCU student is grateful for Woo’s sleight of hand guidance.
“With Woo I can come in here and ask him questions. He has helped me build my show. My show was nothing till I found the shop. And now it has grown so much because of this help," said Michael.
Don’t count on Michael’s mentor to disappear anytime soon.
“I'll do this till I drop dead," said Woo. “Makes me feel good that I’m part of it somehow.”
Woo made a promise to his late-wife to keep the doors open as long as he could.
“I think she was smart enough to know that once she passed I was going to crazy and not know what to do with myself,” said Woo. She told me to do this. So that is basically what I’m doing."
Hun Woo is a life-long magician dedicated to his craft leaving customers smiling. And that is no illusion.
“It makes me feel good to be honest with you. I enjoy it.”
Woo's Divine Magic and Novelties is located on Lakeside Avenue.
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