Hogwarts On The Hudson: Harry Potter NYC Adds Retail Element To J.K. Rowling's Series

A new retail store celebrating all things Harry Potter opened in New York City.

What Happened: Harry Potter NYC is a three-story, 21,000-square-foot venue located at 935 Broadway, behind the landmark Flatiron Building.

Designed as the flagship store in a new retail brand, Harry Potter NYC includes displays of film props to merchandise inspired by the J.K. Rowling series to a Professor McGonagall-worthy selection of snacks including Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, chocolate frogs and Butterbeer poured from the tap.

The store, which opened to the public yesterday, is maintaining pandemic health safety protocols by assigning visitors a time slot when they can enter.

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Why It Matters: The arrival of Harry Potter NYC represents a relatively rare piece of good news for the city’s retail scene, which was slumping before the pandemic.

According to a recently published report from CBRE Group Inc CBRE, retail leasing velocity in Manhattan decelerated during the first quarter, which marked the seventh consecutive quarter of decline. The first-quarter total was down 26.3% from the previous quarter and plummeted 58.8% from one year earlier.

The new store also sparks a revived effort by AT&T Inc. T subsidiary WarnerMedia to reboot the Harry Potter franchise, which has not produced a new film since the 2011 “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”

In March, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar dropped a rather obvious hint Harry Potter and his pals will be continuing with new productions.

“There's this little thing called Harry Potter, which is one of the most beloved franchises,” said Kilar during a session of the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecommunications Conference. “And we're incredibly thankful to be able to partner with J.K. Rowling and so I would argue there's a lot of fun and potential there as well.”

(A scene from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the last entry to date in the popular film franchise. Photo courtesy WarnerMedia.)