THE owner of a science fiction and fantasy-based gift shop in Maldon discussed the “experiment” of moving the business to the town after previously operating online.
Quidvis Universum, based in the High Street stocks a wide variety of merchandise, gifts and collectibles across popular fantasy franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel.
Owner Marc Major explained the business had been online for two years, with warehousing in London.
Marc said it “made sense” to look to open up a shop.
He said: “We looked around Essex for where would be a good place.
“This is an experiment, we’ll see how it goes.”
Marc said although last year ended on a positive note, January and February are “always dead” in town.
“You get no one in”, he said.
“The issue we’ve got is we’re at the wrong end of town. People get as far as the fish and chip shop on the corner and they don’t bother to go any further.
“What we need to do is find a way of telling people ‘yes, we’re here’."
Marc said there are an “awful lot of fans” for franchises covered by Quidvis Universum.
He said: “We started off originally just doing Star Wars, but we’ve moved into lots of other different franchises as well.
“Marvel, Magic: The Gathering. We do trading cards, and we’re going to move into Dungeons and Dragons.
“There’s a whole host of things that are available for people. We’ve just got to get them here.”
To find out more about Quidvis Universum, visit starwarsuniverse.co.uk.
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