Old Town’s little shop of magical science wonders

FORT COLLINS — The space is just 6 by 12 feet. Some walk-in closets are bigger. But in those 72 square feet of retail space on Fort Collins’ Old Town Square, a tireless 58-year-old entrepreneur has jam-packed enough wizardry to make Albus Dumbledore envious.

“There are more toys we were first to sell in the United States than we have square feet in the store,” said Science Toy Magic owner Matt Hannifin, fresh from attending an international toy fair last month in New York. “Every toy we sell has to be durable, has to be the best of its kind and has to demonstrate principles of science as if by magic.”

What Hannifin doesn’t say is that what he calls the shop’s “wow factor” isn’t confined to the shelves of toys soaring on either side of the narrow space. The real magic is Hannifin himself.

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On any given day, a few customers will crowd in to peruse the inventory, but even more will peer in from outside just for the joy of watching Hannifin perform, teaching hands-on physics to awestruck kids of every age as he sells his toys.

“I tend to sneak in a principle every time they visit,” said Hannifin, who employs costumes, rapid-fire banter and any other form of showmanship at hand “to help them realize how special they are. Everybody that comes in has a special talent I haven’t learned yet. I want to turn that talent into a skill so they can live it, not just do a party trick. It reminds me of my own life.”

That life included wondering what to do after the Native American prep school where he was teaching closed, then running a store selling boomerangs in Austin, Texas, and a toy store in Santa Fe, N.M., before opening in Fort Collins in December 2008. But teaching has been the common thread. He’s fluent in 10 languages and works to preserve endangered tongues such as Navajo, Gaelic and Hawaiian — and teaching science in all of them.

You might see him sailing boomerangs or riding his self-balancing electric unicycle up and down the square, teaching at Fort Collins’ full-immersion Global Village Academy, and in his shop selling special safety glasses for viewing a solar eclipse that won’t happen until August 2017.

The shop was as dark as that eclipse for nearly 10 months last year while the square underwent its $3.9 million renovation, after which Hannifin went on a mission to let the world know that businesses there were back up and running. “The business owners signed up for the risk,” he said, “but the waiters and waitresses didn’t.”

Hannifin has had dozens of offers to return to full-time teaching, he said, and “I can’t tell you that I’ll never be tempted away.” But for now, he’s feeding off the joy of discovery he spreads.

“It’s been a very sweet life.”

Dallas Heltzell can be reached at 970-232-3149, 303-630-1962 or dheltzell@bizwestmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DallasHeltzell.