Giles opened the new Magic Box shop in 5.05 No Place Like Home and took on a new member of staff - Anya. He first eyed up the prospect of opening a magic shop in 5.02 Real Me, after the previous owner was found dead. Giles dressed as a wizard for the grand opening but Buffy told him, without words, how very silly he looked.
The Magic Box is located at 5124 Maple Court in downtown Sunnydale. The phone number there is 803-555-8966. Their slogan is “Your one-stop spot to shop for all your occult needs. Let us make it easy”, which Tara says in 5.08 Shadow is great in a hard-to-read way.
A sign at the Magic Box warns customers that “Shoplifters will be transfigured”.
The magic box was trashed by Olaf the Troll in 5.11 Triangle, but miraculously restored by the next episode, 5.12 Checkpoint. It was finally destroyed completely by Willow in 6.22 Grave after she consumed dark magics and fought Giles there. We see in 7.03 Same Time, Same Place that the Magic Box has an “Unsafe” sign on the outside, presumably because the building was structurally damaged.
Related episodes: 5.05 No Place Like Home, 5.08 Shadow, 5.11 Triangle, 6.22 Grave, 7.03 Same Time, Same Place
Comments on this trivia
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southerngem65 on June 27th, 2005 at 1:46 pm
803 is the area code for the Columbia, South Carolina area in the US.
Jess on August 4th, 2005 at 10:13 pm
And isn’t 555 a phone number commonly used by movies and TV shows? I think it’s seen in Same Time, Same Place too, when Willow finds Buffy’s address book.
Mel on August 4th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
I used to think that 555 was the main dialling code for the US (when I was sooo much younger) because you seen it all the time in movies.
Abby M. on August 5th, 2005 at 12:36 am
Yeah, I remember when I saw the movie Bruce Almighty in theaters, God’s number on the beeper started with 728- or 724- or something like that. It turns out that number was a number of a resident not to far from my part of Florida and she kept getting calls from people looking for God. They actually had to redistribute the entire movie again with a 555- number in place of hers. Pretty funny!
Mullsen on September 9th, 2005 at 1:13 pm
Other signs at the Magic Box that I’ve noticed: “Magic happens” and “Life is a witch and then you fly” can be seen by the counter. “No parking in back. Violators will be toads” is by the desk.
MagicBone on January 30th, 2006 at 4:54 am
If I ever have a store, which I probably won’t, I’m gonna call it the Magic Box, no matter what it sells.
Wynter on May 19th, 2006 at 8:48 pm
I thought Giles looked brilliant in the wizard hat and cloak! The moment between him and Buffy when she walks into the shop and sees him is absolutely hilarious though. I just love the way it cuts from shots of each of them staring at the other, til eventually Giles takes it off. Great stuff XD
Watcher at Large on April 8th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
The 803 area code might be a misremembered version of the real-life 805 area code for Santa Barbara, which corresponds to Sunnydale’s location (city and county maps seen in the show match SB city and county’s boundaries). Given such references as “two hours down the freeway (likely Highway 101) from Neiman Marcus (in Buffy’s old hometown of Los Angeles), and Xander’s cross-country drive stalling in Oxnard (about an hour from SB), the area code - though one digit off - looks like a stab at realism.
walkingblues on April 9th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I loved how when Willow walks into the shop after Giles has taken off the hat and cloak, she’s all excited and says ‘Giles, where’s you hat and cloak?’