It's like Harry Potter discovering a secret shop in a neighborhood of Muggles. To get there, you make your way through an old Palama residential area as kids dart about and shoes hang from their laces overhead on the telephone wires.

Then, on Auld Lane, an unassuming, yellow structure built in 1928 appears.

Don't be fooled by the 7UP sign that reads "C. Zukemura Store General Merchandise." A handwritten sign on the door reveals the true nature of the place: "Magic Store."

To enter, you must go on a Saturday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Only then may you pass through the screen door and into the world of Zuke's Magic & Jokes.

Amateur and professional magicians from Waimanalo to Krakow, Poland, have descended upon this mom-and-pop shop. Out-of-town visitors find their way via the yellow pages. Word of mouth brings the rest.

Kids with parents in tow excitedly check out the counters and shelves that are packed with tricks to change candles to flowers and turn one sponge ball into two — no, three! A boy rides his unicycle while his dad juggles. You'll see it all.

Go early in the morning, when there are fewer customers, and you can talk story with Jimmy Zukemura, the 72-year-old owner. Drinking a Hawaiian Sun juice, he calls to his wife, Carol, to make sure he gets the facts straight.

The building was originally home to the Kam Pui Store. In 1946, Zukemura's dad, Chibin, rented the place and opened a grocery store where you could buy milk, eggs and bologna sliced as thick as you wanted it. They eventually bought the building and the home next door, where Zukemura's 92-year-old mom, Kameko, still lives.

"When my dad died," says Zukemura, "nobody wanted to take over. But my mom said, 'No, Dad wanted someone to keep the store.' So being the oldest, I did. In those days, it was tradition."

For 32 years, he and his wife ran the store. As the neighborhood changed from crowded tenements to single-family homes, business fell. In 2000, they exited the grocery trade and retired.

But the store didn't close. Zukemura, an accomplished magician, transformed it into a magic shop. "As long as Mom is living, I will run the store," he says in a voice tinged with emotion.

That's lucky for Hawai'i magicians of all ages. Zuke's (pronounced ZOO-keys) has become a gathering place for families, as well as plumbers, police officers, teachers, chefs and doctors who practice magic.

'MAGIC IS GOOD'

Rya Gainey, of Salt Lake, arrives with her three boys and a neighbor's son who wants to be a magician. She gives each of them $5. Her husband Vernon asks, "Can I have $5, too?"

After they pick their tricks, Robert Windham, one of Zukemura's many magician friends who lend a sleight of hand, shows the boys how to perform them.

"Now, you're going to Grandpa's house to do the magic tricks," says Gainey.

"Magic is good," says Jerrold Brown, a clinical psychologist, who has popped in. With his long gray beard, it feels like speaking with Professor Dumbledore himself.

"You have kids who are closed down, who haven't made friends at school," explains Brown. "Then they learn a trick and they teach it. Soon they're showing the class."

That's where Zuke's shines.

"Long time ago, the only magic you could get was the kind in the back of the comic books," says Carol Zukemura. "You paid 10 to 15 cents for a trick and sent away for it."

At Zuke's, you don't just get a trick. You see magic come alive with hands-on demonstrations. You learn how to use your imagination to engage an audience.

It's easy to see why the Society of Young Magicians meets at the store to practice. The place is bubbling with ideas and encouragement.

A VIBRANT COMMUNITY

What will happen when it finally closes? "No sense think of that," says Zukemura. "I don't think that way, because I want long life for my mom. She's gonna be 100."

So for now, you can catch the Zukemuras' most amazing feat, performed without any Las Vegas glitz: At a modest little shop in Palama, Jimmy and Carol magically bring together and nurture a diverse and vibrant community.

You don't have to be Harry Potter to experience the enchantment. Every Saturday at Zuke's, there's magic within. And the best part is, you can take it home with you.

Lisa Sekiya is a former Advertiser columnist who now works in our marketing department.