- ⤷ Note: This article is about the magic shop. For the RPG book, see The Magic Box.
- “Your one-stop spot to shop for all your occult needs.”
- ―Magic Box logo[src]
Magic Box, previously known as Uncle Bob's Magic Cabinet,[1] was a magic shop located on Maple Court in Sunnydale, between the shops Book Stew! and April Fool. The shop was last owned and operated by Rupert Giles,[2][3] when the shop had served as the primary headquarters for the Scooby Gang.[4]
History
Uncle Bob's Magic Cabinet
Facade of the shop in 1999.
By 1998, the shop employed an unidentified woman as clerk, whom Spike killed during his search for a love spell.[5] In 1999, the shop was known as Uncle Bob's Magic Cabinet. At that time, Willow Rosenberg was able to awaken the owner in order to obtain supplies for a protection spell.[1] A few months later, Alexander Harris purchased ingredients at Uncle Bob's to perform a Breath of the Entropics ritual.[6]
Magic Box
By late 2000, the shop had been renamed the "Magic Box." Harmony Gang killed the owner, Mr. Bogarty, and stole a book on Slayers along with a unicorn figurine.[2]
Following the owner's death, Rupert Giles purchased the shop due to its high profit margins.[2] Soon after opening, Anya Jenkins became a full-time employee after demonstrating her knowledge of mystical artifacts and business management.[7] The Magic Box subsequently served as the Scoobies' headquarters,[4] succeeding Rupert Giles's apartment[8] and the Sunnydale High School library.[9]
When Giles went to England for a week, Anya and Willow were placed in charge of the shop. Willow attempted to use the shop's supplies to create a simulated sunlight spell, but her argument with Anya disrupted the ritual and inadvertently conjured a troll from a crystal in the shop.[10] Before Giles returned to England, Anya became the Magic Box's co-owner.[11] For a brief period, Buffy Summers also worked part-time at the shop,[12] but quickly discovered she was not suited for such employment.[13]
Phone book ad.
A training room used by Buffy and Giles was located in an unused space at the back of the building. The Magic Box also featured a trapdoor which led to the sewers.[14] The shop's phone number was (805) 555-8966,[15] and its business hours were 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and closed on Sundays.[16]
In 2002, the Magic Box's interior was destroyed after Willow, consumed by grief over Tara Maclay's death, fought Buffy and Giles inside the shop after absorbing energy from its collection of dark magic books.[3] The building was later seen burnt out, boarded up and condemned as 'unsafe' as Anya collected items that had survived the destruction. [17] The building was presumably destroyed, along with the rest of Sunnydale, after the battle at the Hellmouth in 2003.[18]
Merchandise
The Magic Box offered a wide variety of items for sale, including candles, incense, runic artifacts, potions, and death charms, as well as non-magical items such as history books, jewelry, and lollipops.[15] The merchandise included:
Books and magazines
- A Treatise on the Mythology and Methodology of the Vampire Slayer[2]
- Green Egg magazines[10]
- Magic for Beginners[14]
- Massage and Bodywork Magazine[10]
- Nexus magazine[10]
- Remedial Witchcraft[13]
- Shaman's Drum Journal[10]
- UFO Magazine[10]
Artifacts and ingredients
- Amulet of Caldys[19]
- Ancient Mummy Hand[12]
- Burma statue[19]
- Bindweed[10]
- Burba weed[13]
- Canary's feathers[5]
- Chicken's feet[20]
- Cloven hooves[7]
- Cloves[5]
- Conjuring powder[7]
- Crosses[21]
- Crystal balls[7]
- Dagger of Lex[12]
- Essence of Slug candles[12]
- Essence of rose thorn[5]
- Essence of toad[6]
- Essence of violet[5]
- Eyeballs in honey[12]
- Fleabane[10]
- Hand of Glory[7]
- Hellebore[10]
- Holy water[5]
- Idol of Oofdar[8]
- Janus statue[14]
- Khul's amulet[15]
- Lemon Seduction candles[12]
- Mandrake root[13]
- Monkey head[22]
- Petrified hamster[12]
- Rabbit's foot[8]
- Rats' eyes[5]
- Raven's feathers[5]
- Salamander eyes[22][10]
- Set of runic tablets[5]
- Sobekian blood stone[15]
- Skink root[5]
- Styx water[22]
- Sweet's talisman[4]
- Tarot decks[7]
- Twice-blessed sage[6]
- Unicorn statue[2]
- Urn of Ishtar[16]
- Voodoo dolls[7]
Off-limits area
The store contained a large number of artifacts and books that were considered dangerous. Its collection included resurrection spells,[23] as well as the Darkest Magick, a spellbook of powerful dark magic that Willow used alongside a dagger stored in the shop.[24] In the following year, Willow became dark with magic after absorbing the content from these books.[25]
Prominent events
1998
- Willow bought magic ingredients so she could perform a delusting spell to stop her attraction to Xander.[5]
- Spike, seeking a love spell for Drusilla, killed the shop's clerk.[5]
- Buffy, Spike, and Angel fought Lenny and a gang of vampires inside the shop.[5]
1999
- Buffy purchased ingredients for Giles while he was temporarily blinded by an "I will it so" spell Willow had inadvertently cast on him.[26]
2000
- Harmony Kendall and her gang killed Mr. Bogarty, prompting Giles to purchase the shop.[2]
- While organizing the store, Giles was attacked by Toth, who was pursuing the Slayer.[8]
- Giles officially opened the shop under his administration.[7]
- Anya was hired as an employee.[7]
- Tara was visited by her family, who later threatened her in an attempt to force her to return home.[27]
- The shop was attacked by Lei-ach demons, accidentally rendered invisible by a spell cast by Tara.[27]
- Glory purchased ingredients for the Sobekian transmogrification spell.[7]
- The Spawn of Sobek identified Dawn Summers as the Key.[7]
- Buffy ended her relationship with Riley Finn in the training room.[20]
2001
- Anya and Willow accidentally freed Olaf from a crystal.[10]
- The Watchers Council occupied the shop to evaluate Buffy and the Scoobies.[19]
- Giles was reinstated as a Watcher and Quentin Travers revealed that Glory was a god.[19]
- With Spike's help, Dawn broke into the shop and discovered that she was the Key.[16]
- Dawn committed a series of thefts.[23][13][4]
- As the Scooby Gang prepared for their battle against Glory, Xander asked Anya to marry him.[28]
- The Trio installed a hidden camera in a skull to spy on Buffy.[12][29]
- While temporarily employed at the shop, Buffy was trapped in a time loop, forcing her to repeatedly sell an Ancient Mummy Hand.[12]
- During Halloween 2002, Xander and Anya announced their engagement.[13]
- After losing their memories under Willow's "tabula rasa" spell, the Scooby Gang was attacked by a loan shark and his vampire minions.[14]
- Anya and Xander discovered that an invisible Buffy was "fading away."[30]
2002
- After Spike visited the shop seeking a spell to get over Buffy, he and Anya got drunk together and had sex on a table.[29]
- Outside the shop, an angry Xander attempted to stake Spike before Buffy and Anya intervened. Spike then revealed that he had also been sleeping with Buffy.[29]
- Willow absorbed magic from the books,[25] and then from Giles after his return.[3]
- Willow destroyed the Magic Box while fighting Giles.[3]
- After her return from England, Willow met Anya outside the closed shop.[17]
Areas
Behind the scenes
- While the products behind the counter are always out of focus, on-set pictures reveal they have labels inspired by characters and the staff, with names such as "Gellar Gems" (after Sarah Michelle Gellar), "Eye of Noxon" (after Marti Noxon), "Zanderliscious" (after Xander), and "Dru's Drink" (after Drusilla). Some of these props were reused for the Practical Science Department set in Angel season 5.[31]
- The Magic Box is also present in alternate realities such as the universe 37 from The Vampire Slayer, where the shop is named Transmogrification Emporium; and Demondale from Big Bad: A Novel, where the shop is named Ripper and Rayne's Metaphysical Boutique (which Ripper jokes about renaming to "Uncle Ripper's Magic Box"). Anya is the sole owner of the Magic Box in the alternate realities of the universe without shrimp from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2019) and in Slayers: A Buffyverse Story.
Appearances
Canonical
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3 | |||||||||||
| "Anne" Absent |
"Dead Man's Party" Absent |
"Faith, Hope & Trick" Absent |
"Beauty and the Beasts" Absent |
"Homecoming" Absent |
"Band Candy" Absent |
"Revelations" Absent |
"Lovers Walk" Appears |
"The Wish" Absent |
"Amends" Absent |
"Gingerbread" Absent | |
| "Helpless" Absent |
"The Zeppo" Appears |
"Bad Girls" Absent |
"Consequences" Absent |
"Doppelgängland" Absent |
"Enemies" Absent |
"Earshot" Absent |
"Choices" Mention |
"The Prom" Mention |
"Graduation Day, Part One" Appears |
"Graduation Day, Part Two" Absent | |
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4 | |||||||||||
| "The Freshman" Absent |
"Living Conditions" Mention |
"The Harsh Light of Day" Absent |
"Fear, Itself" Appears |
"Beer Bad" Absent |
"Wild at Heart" Absent |
"The Initiative" Absent |
"Pangs" Appears |
"Something Blue" Appears |
"Hush" Appears |
"Doomed" Mention | |
| "A New Man" Appears |
"The I in Team" Absent |
"Goodbye Iowa" Absent |
"This Year's Girl" Appears |
"Who Are You?" Absent |
"Superstar" Absent |
"Where the Wild Things Are" Absent |
"New Moon Rising" Absent |
"The Yoko Factor" Absent |
"Primeval" Absent |
"Restless" Absent | |
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 5 | |||||||||||
| "Buffy vs. Dracula" Absent |
"Real Me" Appears |
"The Replacement" Appears |
"Out of My Mind" Appears |
"No Place Like Home" Appears |
"Family" Appears |
"Fool for Love" Appears |
"Shadow" Appears |
"Listening to Fear" Absent |
"Into the Woods" Appears |
"Triangle" Appears | |
| "Checkpoint" Appears |
"Blood Ties" Appears |
"Crush" Absent |
"I Was Made to Love You" Appears |
"The Body" Absent |
"Forever" Appears |
"Intervention" Appears |
"Tough Love" Appears |
"Spiral" Absent |
"The Weight of the World" Appears |
"The Gift" Appears | |
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 6 | |||||||||||
| "Bargaining, Part One" Appears |
"Bargaining, Part Two" Appears |
"After Life" Appears |
"Flooded" Appears |
"Life Serial" Appears |
"All the Way" Appears |
"Once More, with Feeling" Appears |
"Tabula Rasa" Appears |
"Smashed" Appears |
"Wrecked" Appears |
"Gone" Appears | |
| "Doublemeat Palace" Appears |
"Dead Things" Appears |
"Older and Far Away" Appears |
"As You Were" Appears |
"Hell's Bells" Absent |
"Normal Again" Mention |
"Entropy" Appears |
"Seeing Red" Appears |
"Villains" Appears |
"Two to Go" Appears |
"Grave" Appears | |
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 7 | |||||||||||
| "Lessons" Absent |
"Beneath You" Absent |
"Same Time, Same Place" Appears |
"Help" Absent |
"Selfless" Absent |
"Him" Absent |
"Conversations with Dead People" Mention |
"Sleeper" Absent |
"Never Leave Me" Absent |
"Bring on the Night" Absent |
"Showtime" Absent | |
| "Potential" Absent |
"The Killer in Me" Absent |
"First Date" Absent |
"Get It Done" Absent |
"Storyteller" Vision |
"Lies My Parents Told Me" Absent |
"Dirty Girls" Absent |
"Empty Places" Absent |
"Touched" Absent |
"End of Days" Absent |
"Chosen" Absent | |
| Angel & Faith | |||||||||||
| Live Through This, Part 1 Absent |
Live Through This, Part 2 Absent |
Live Through This, Part 3 Absent |
Live Through This, Part 4 Absent |
In Perfect Harmony Absent |
Daddy Issues, Part 1 Absent |
Daddy Issues, Part 2 Absent |
Daddy Issues, Part 3 Absent |
Daddy Issues, Part 4 Absent |
Women of a Certain Age Absent | ||
| Family Reunion, Part 1 Absent |
Family Reunion, Part 2 Absent |
Family Reunion, Part 3 Absent |
Family Reunion, Part 4 Absent |
The Hero of His Own Story Absent |
A Dark Place, Part 1 Absent |
A Dark Place, Part 2 Mention |
A Dark Place, Part 3 Absent |
A Dark Place, Part 4 Absent |
A Dark Place, Part 5 Absent | ||
| Death and Consequences, Part 1 Absent |
Death and Consequences, Part 2 Absent |
Death and Consequences, Part 3 Absent |
Death and Consequences, Part 4 Absent |
Spike and Faith Absent |
What You Want, Not What You Need, Part 1 Absent |
What You Want, Not What You Need, Part 2 Absent |
What You Want, Not What You Need, Part 3 Absent |
What You Want, Not What You Need, Part 4 Absent |
What You Want, Not What You Need, Part 5 Absent | ||
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9 | |||||||||||
| "Magical Mystery Tour, Featuring the Beetles" Absent |
Freefall, Part 1 Absent |
Freefall, Part 2 Absent |
Freefall, Part 3 Absent |
Freefall, Part 4 Absent |
Slayer, Interrupted Absent |
On Your Own, Part 1 Absent |
On Your Own, Part 2 Absent |
Apart (of Me), Part 1 Absent |
Apart (of Me), Part 2 Absent |
Apart (of Me), Part 3 Absent | |
| "In Space No One Can Hear You Slay" Absent |
Guarded, Part 1 Absent |
Guarded, Part 2 Absent |
Guarded, Part 3 Absent |
Billy the Vampire Slayer, Part 1 Absent |
Billy the Vampire Slayer, Part 2 Absent |
Wonderland, Part 1 Absent |
Wonderland, Part 2 Absent |
Wonderland, Part 3 Absent |
Wonderland, Part 4 Absent |
Wonderland, Part 5 Absent | |
| Welcome to the Team, Part 1 Absent |
Welcome to the Team, Part 2 Absent |
Welcome to the Team, Part 3 Absent |
Welcome to the Team, Part 4 Absent |
The Watcher Absent |
The Core, Part 1 Absent |
The Core, Part 2 Mention |
The Core, Part 3 Absent |
The Core, Part 4 Absent |
The Core, Part 5 Absent |
Love vs. Life Absent | |