Wearing Hogwarts robes and witches’ hats, hundreds of Potterheads sipped Butterbeer and posed for photos in Hagrid’s giant shoes as New York’s long-awaited Harry Potter store, the biggest in the world, opened Thursday.
Fans of the boy wizard queued for hours in heavy rain to be among the first inside the three-story shop in Lower Manhattan that hosts the largest collection of Potter products anywhere.
Inside, fans of J. K Rowling’s magical world snapped selfies in front of a red telephone box like the one that transports witches and wizards to the Ministry of Magic and bought fizzing whizbees candy.
They tried on knitted quidditch jumpers, flicked through copies of the best-selling book series in history and sampled the wizards’ favourite drink at the Butterbeer bar.
The flagship store was due to open last summer but was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
