Second magical shop inspired by the world of Harry Potter set to open in Falkirk

The former Alba’s Artisan store is being transformed into Whimsic Alley and will welcome customers from Saturday.

The shop, which is owned by Doris Lenaghen and her son Leslie, has been given a whole new look and is essentially an extension to their neighbouring business The Lonely Broomstick albeit offering customers with different products.

Leslie explained: “We’ve had The Lonely Broomstick since August last year and we had Alba’s Artisan next door – it’s now becoming Whimsic Alley.

"It's the same idea as The Lonely Broomstick, but with different things on offer.

"It’s whimsical, magical, quirky stuff that you can’t just buy online.

“When you step into the shop it takes you to a completely different world.”

The success of the mother and son’s first Potter inspired shop has been behind their latest venture.

"We’re trying to reinvent the High Street and we’re slowly turning it into our own Diagon Alley,” said Leslie.

“We’ve realised that – especially with The Lonely Broomstick – now for the High Street to work you can’t simply open another salon or cafe or other shop.

"You need to reinvent it and change it.

"The Loney Broomstick was something different and it’s not stopped since the day it opened.

"There’s always something different for people to buy with new products coming in all the time.

"When something sells out we’ll look and get something different in to replace it.

"We have customers who come in every single week and when they do the whole shop looks different.

"We decided to make Whimsic Alley an extension of The Lonely Broomstick with similar magical stock, but still different.

“We have a lot of people who travel to come to The Lonely Broomstick, so now with Whimsic Alley it’ll be even more worthwhile visiting.”

Plans are in place for a grand opening to remember on Saturday when the doors open at 10am.

A 12ft long boa constrictor – like Nagini from Harry Potter – will be in store from 10am to noon giving people the chance to have their photograph taken with it.

There will also be some familiar faces from the wizarding world and for the opening weekend, both of the Lenaghen’s shops will be offering customers 10 per cent off goods.