Major Magics

[VegaNova]

Anyone want to buy Major Magic's? Only $140k....

cgi.ebay.com/Major-Magics...dZViewItem (http://cgi.ebay.com/Major-Magics-Pizza-Revue-ESTABLISHED-BUSINESS-28-YEARS_W0QQitemZ140018305907QQihZ004QQcategoryZ1176 1QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

-VegaNova

[TreyTX]

well you can tell this place was a ShowBiz Pizza before...I will be on business in Detroit sometime in Sept and will check it out...be interesting to see what part of town this is in and how much has changed since ShowBiz.

This would be an opportunity for someone who wants to own their own CEC style business. From the sales point he won't be able to sell the location for the price he is asking. I would question if he owns the games out right or are they placed in by a third party (this is important on how you market the place--tokens given for Bdays, coupons, food orders, merch paid out), if there is a CEC located close, condition of shopping center, demos of 5 sq. mile population. I noticed there is no longer a show...someone could install a Rock afire show update the exterior and interior and change name...Ceazarland is known this might be an option to franchise. in the late 90's a company called McBiz placed management contracts (which CEC does not allow on it's new franchise agreements) on existing franchisees where the original owner did not want to run their CEC/SBZ and had this company pay the mortgage/loan and run the company like it was their own and just paid the owner a small fee...this was very common...I had a similar contract with the Utah location before closing the store and moving the equipment to TX as an independent. So someone could get into this place with almost nothing down as this guy really doesn't have many options. CEC stores typically do three times his annual sales. I know that the name ShowBiz Pizza and the old logo are no longer trademarked by CEC anymore...this might be an option

[cec080]

:D :D OH Yeah! I knew it!!! I was just there like 2 months ago! I live like 30 minutes away and as posted in the off topic board they took the animatronics out though... I'll tell yeah that is tuff competition because cec is right down the street.

Hey Trey i live in Michigan as well as No Slugs Back. It would be cool if we could hook up at No Slugs Back's cec location. I'm up for it..

Hey Trey about the games they are owned by an arcade company located in the same city...

It's located on John R Road at 12 mile in Madison Heights MI. The cec is located on John R Road at 14 mile by the Oakland Mall. and that's the newest one in Michigan and the one that had the vandilism as well.

from the city of Detroit take I-75 to 12 mile Road and it's right there the cec is like 3 miles north of Major Magics...

[TreyTX]

OK, so that explains it...CEC just moved into the area and this store's sales have dropped which there really isn't too much that can be done in that situation to raise the sales. By rereading the eBay ad, the games are infact placed by a 3ed party so since the owner does not own the games he would have to negotiate what promo tokens could be given out on Bday parties, newspaper coupons, meal deals...CEC owns their games and merch prices are pretty low so they have the perceived value of savings when you buy a large pizza and get 50 free tokens (newspaper ad)--"Save $10"...but it only cost the company $1 for the merch prize redeemed...if they only played the redemption games and no rides and if they won every time...since this Major Magic's doesn't own their games this would be a marketing problem. Good news is the games would be updated as 3ed party game companies rotate their games out depending on location...he does state they have negotiated a merch split.

In Utah, I used a 3ed party on games...this was difficult as we did not pay the ad fund for the ShowBiz newspaper split and when the ad would run in the paper they listed only Orem and Salt Lake stores but not Ogden but people would still bring in the coupon but we could not honor it because of the token situation...the two stores (at the time were McBiz agreements) owned their games.

His rent is not a good deal at all..with 'triple' is over $10,000 a month...so that is a flag. Depending on the strip center, I would bring this up to the land lord...if he wants to keep the place rented and has a problem keeping the other parts of the center rented he would need to lower the rent factor...esp. with CEC now close by.

in the early and mid 90s when CEC franchisees went independent (to keep from remodeling their store) all failed and CEC opened corp locations (some in the same building) within 6 months and are still opened.


depending on the demos, kids do not want a non known place, kids will not want to go to a non-CEC and parents would make that 10 min drive to CEC instead of the local Major Magic.

One thing that I can't figure out, this store being a former ShowBiz (and before 1990---the showroom does not have windows
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14253061_tp.jpg

and the salad bar is still at the front by the front reg.)
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14253176_tp.jpg

why was it closed in the first place. The Detroit ShowBiz Pizza stores have always been corp locations...why did ShowBiz close this location? When PTT and SBZ merged the PTT franchisee must have closed or all corp SBZ would have closed (just like Houston)...so why did ShowBiz close this location years ago in the first place.

check out this pic...the old bev. bar (where the free standing salad bar would be today in CEC) you can see the Rock afire show controller still here on the wall.

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14252610_tp.jpg

[cec080]

HI Trey I was reading your post. This was always a Major Magics since the early 1980's the contol panel was for the Rock and Roll Rebellion an animatronic stage show similar to the Rockafire Explosion. The Showbiz pizza's which are now cec's are located at:

15300 Dix Toledo Road Southgate MI. 48195 734-283-6513
and the Dearborn MI. location 24399 Michigan Avenue Dearborn Mi. 48124 313-274-5311. They Both Had the Rockafire explosion and now have the MMBB 3stage. The Dearborn location is slated to close 12/06.

the Rock and Roll Rebellion can be seen on the pics page....

hope this helps a little.....

on a side note the cec ptt in Southgate MI. was located 2 miles from Showbiz. It is now currently a Caesarland...

[TreyTX]

so we need to figure out the mystery on why the ShowBiz closed...the outside clearly has the 'now appearing boxes' outside, from different pics you can tell that it was a ShowBiz Pizza Place.
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14253351_o.jpg

you can see behind the counter on the left, the small window that was used to call the kitchen, the front counter and th salad bar and that tile...I worked for ShowBiz as a teenager for three years so I can totally tell.
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14253176_o.jpg

you can't see the window here as the cotton candy is in the way...the window you can see is the window from the manager's office so he can watch the cashiers.
http://sp-com.tripod.com/pizzacam/trey/trey30_houston.jpg

you can see the salad bar better here
http://rock_afire.tripod.com/info/franchise/spp82/spp82_03.jpg

this picture is coming from the showroom to the game room from the far wall away from the bev. counter...also, here is the balcony...and the wood has been painted red on the wall where the balcony wall is...and the firehouse is very ShowBiz Pizza
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14253090_o.jpg

this pic is from the same spot but now looking over at the bev station...and you see the angel of the ceiling wall is from the balcony to the all where the Rock afire speaker was...
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14253061_o.jpg
here is a similar position pic from Houston ShowBiz-Memorial Dr
http://sp-com.tripod.com/pizzacam/trey/trey34_houston.jpg

check out where the Rock afire was and the place where the speakers and Pizza monitors were.

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14252646_o.jpg

simiar pic from ShowBiz--check out the wall again...
http://sp-com.tripod.com/pizzacam/trey/trey36_houston.jpg

anyone who has worked at showbiz can see the tile that ran from the cashieir all the way from the pick up window to the beverage bar knows that tile...and the kitched had a diffrent tile and the kitchen is set up the same...notice the hand sink by the door that would lead to the game room on the left. and here is a better pic o old show wall device...still orange...clearly they have added some other things on top of it after ShowBiz and Rock aFire left
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14252610_o.jpg

here you can see the angled wall where the 10 skeeballs were...the other angeled wall (you can't see from left) would be right in fron of the beverage bar leading into the game room.
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14252478_o.jpg

this is a pic of the old ShowBiz gift shop and on the right of the pic is the cashier station...but the red counter you can see is the salad bar.
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/3/1/2/4/3/webimg/14252362_o.jpg

here is the ShowBiz floor plan layout to help with what I am talking about...
http://rock_afire.tripod.com/info/franchise/spp82/spp82_11.jpg

[cec080]

Trey your on to something.... :D :D I see what you mean! i wish i could findout more about the Major Magic's corporation. but when i google i get Toledo Ohio and Madison Heights Mi. the one that's up for sale. I've been to them both and they both look alike.... so i wonder if they were showbiz's because the two cec's in Toledo Ohio i guess were rebuilds because they both have the one stage.. and the outfits are dated 1994 on the characters.. so i think your right both of them were showbiz's before...

[menutia]

My SPP NEVER had windows or openings into the showroom until the 1987 remodel. It was always a dark room during the shows and no light was allowed into the place. (I loved it!)

~Michael

[TreyTX]

yeap Toledo was without CEC until recent years...both SBZ and PTT stores closed...but more intereting I would like to know why ShowBiz closed a corp location so early on...this was not typical for them...I could understand if it were a franchise...so hopefully someone will find more info...I went to the closed CEC in Houston W Belfort about a year ago...it is no a make shift day care...the 3-stage is still here...just the stage the kids play on it and the employees just sit on it like it's a bench...anyway I will be in Detroit within 6 weeks so I hope to swing by myslef. Is this a bad part of town?

[MMBBfan327]

Trey, did you look at Major Magic's "Sports Academy" room? Do you think that may be where the Sports Room was at SPP?

[cec080]

Trey regarding parts of town. No it's not in a bad part of Detroit.. Actually it's north. in Oakland County and Oakland County has a great reputation. I reccomend you stop in at the Chuck E. Cheese in Troyas well (6 months old and was recently vandalized.) There are also 2 others close by. Pontiac MI. and Rochester Hills MI. there awesome one has the one stage and the other has the 2 stage. If you really have time there is this really cool mall called Great Lakes Crossing which is at I-75 exit 83 Josyln Road. They have Jeepers, Gameworks, Rainforest Cafe..

- Troy CEC (John R road near Major Magics)
- Pontiac Cec (Telegraph Road near Summit Place mall)
- Rochester Cec (Auburn Road off of M-59)

If you go to the Pontiac Location tell them you know the guy with the cec shirt Jason from the showbizpizza.com board :D :D

hope you have time to explore a little bit of the area...

[No Slugs Back]

on a side note the cec ptt in Southgate MI. was located 2 miles from Showbiz. It is now currently a Caesarland...
I beg to differ on this point. This Caesarland location has been a Little Casear's since the late 1970s. I believe they were called "Fun Centers" and were the only Little Caesar's with a dining room. The Southgate location used to have bands on Friday and Saturday nights and served beer.
We went there quite often in my college days . . .

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Awesome work Trey! Thanks for posting the pix and adding our comments from first hand experience.

I'd like to add that as Menutia touched on in his post, that Showbiz and PTT/CEC's had NO windows whatsoever in there Showrooms until the mid 80's remodels came through. Most locations had no windows, anywhere, period! This was keeping with the cool, dark, "theatrical" look both concepts were trying to convay.

With CEC in town it's no wonder that this guy is looking to unload his resturant. Good luck to whoever decides to buy it!

[dheineCECfan]

I wouldn't buy a Major Magic's in Michigan anyway unless CEC wants it to convert into a CEC location.

[cec080]

NO SLUGS BACK: YOUR RIGHT ABOUT THE LITTLE CAESARS BEING CALLED FUN CENTERS THEN THEY CLOSED AND REMODELED AND BECAME CAESARLANDS. BUT I BELIEVE IT WAS A PTT UP UNTIL 1983 BECAUSE I HAVE PICTURES OF MY BIRTHDAY THERE AND MY PARENTS SAID IT WAS PTT. I'M UNSURE BECAUSE I WAS ONLY 1 AT THE TIME SO I CAN ONLY SAY WHAT THEY SAID. IT WAS ON EUREKA NOT WHERE YOU WORK AT..


d heine CEC fan: THE CEC IS LOCATED 1 MILE OR SO DOWN THE STREET SO THATS WHY THIS MAJOR MAGICS IS UP FOR SALE...

[dheineCECfan]

And those few CECPTT's that became Little Caesar's/Caesarland had the Family Album and Hot Fudge animatronic shows.

[No Slugs Back]

cec080: I don't want to argue, but I recall going to this particular Little Caesar's in the late '70s (yeah, I'm that old). Unless it bacame a PTT between, oh, 1982 and 1987 (when I was living out of the area), I don't remember it ever being one.
When my kids were small, they occasionally went to the Showbiz (the CEC where I now work) or the CEC in Westland, which is now closed.

[Rockafirefan]

They could put the two Chimpy's locations on Ebay.

[MMBBfan327]

If they were still open. Chimpy's closed on Father's Day I think last year, or the year before, can't remember.

[cec080]

No Slugs Back: no i don't want to argue either.. (sorry about the all caps.) I was only 1 at the time!!!!! :lol :lol Regarding the Westland Cec Yep I heard there was one there too so maybe they got confused and said Southgate and she really meant Westland..

[No Slugs Back]

Come to think of it, the Westland CEC is now a Caesarland . . .

[cec080]

you know your right! They have the old ptt benches as well as the Southgate Caesarland location. They put like purple and pink cushions on them replacing the old brown cushions. :D yet the Westland location don't look at all like a pizza time theater...hmm.

[TreyTX]

I went by the Major Magic's last month (forgot to post) and checked the place out and met with the new owner...the place was def. a former SBZ location...there were hints all over that gave it away...when I was talking to the owner and telling him the short history he did not believe me that it was a former CEC/SBZ (he never heard of SBZ)....I had to convince him...we were in the game room and I made comments, "Behind that door is there a sink?" he said surprisingly, "yes!" and we walked in and behind the Middleyby Marshal oven "is there a mop sink"...and there it was...later he took me to the old showroom and I could see where the plywood was for the RAF curtains on the ceiling and the exact trap door for Mitzi...anyway the guy is nice but they paid too much for the place and don't really have a clue about the business or how to adapt...

[Rockafirefan]

Does anyone have video footage of Major Magics show?

[CEC3066]

when they had it you wern't akkowed to rake pics or video of the show

[Rockafirefan]

Why? I have seen pictures of it on this website.

[cec080]

Hey Trey I'm Glad you got to stop by that Major Magics! Thats awesome to know that it was in deed a Showbiz Pizza Place! Did you happen to stop in at the brand new Chuck E. Cheeses In Troy MI. right down the street? :D