The products carefully displayed around Alchemy are the stuff of childhood dreams. A hyper-realistic wolf pup is perched on top of a treasure chest next to a giant stuffed kangaroo with joey in her pouch. Baby dragon puppets poke bright-red tongues out of another propped-open chest.
Wax-paper twists of butter rum and cinnamon taffy rest in bowls. Mary Poppins’ carpetbag is for sale, along with books titled Piratology and Fairyology. There’s an infinity scarf with Harry Potter’s marauder’s map printed on the twisting threads.
Alchemy is a beautiful little shop on Market Street you’ve probably never heard of. Alchemy terms itself the “Marvelous Magical Olde World Emporium” and when I walked through the doors I was greeted with the swelling strains of the Harry Potter theme, the smell of old books, the temptation of bracelets embossed with quotes from my favorite stories.
The décor in the little shop is worth mentioning: the store is impeccably beautiful, decked with glass star lanterns, replicas of the paintings in Disney’s Haunted Mansion attraction.
Located at 415 E. Market St. Alchemy is far too easy to miss, and carries the kind of gifts the book-loving child or adult in your life will adore. It’s the kind of place that only seems to appear in books, the kind of place you half expect to be manned by Mr. Ollivander or Mr. Tumnus, the kind of place that makes you want to spend all your fun money and buy everyone presents.
Give in to that impulse and experience the magic of Alchemy. Better hurry down there and start buying Christmas presents so this beautiful little shop won’t end up as a footnote in the history of Market Street.
