Stan Goldin was having doubts last year about renewing a five-year lease on Whimsic Alley, his Harry Potter-themed store in Santa Monica. The book series was complete, and the movies were beginning to wind down. Then he heard about Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Fla.

“If Universal has that much faith in the franchise, then there must be something to it,” he said.

So he found even bigger space and moved Whimsic Alley to Wilshire Boulevard on the Miracle Mile in April.

The two-level facility’s 9,000 square feet gives Goldin enough room to store his merchandise on site. But above all, he’s added the Great Hall, an elaborate re-creation of the dining hall at Hogwarts, the wizardry school Harry and his friends attended in the books and movies.

Goldin rents the hall out for birthday parties and bar mitzvahs. Surprisingly, events are not limited to Harry Potter themes.

“We get requests for everything from Robin Hood events to Disney-themed parties,” said Goldin. Currently, Whimsic Alley charges $250 an hour for Great Hall events, but Goldin is considering a price decrease.

Whimsic Alley has also launched summer day camps based on the Potter franchise.

“We started with children’s camp at the start of the summer, and then adults said, ‘I want to go.’ And enough said it that we did an adults camp,” said Goldin.

Merchandise sales are still the core business, but the Great Hall has added value for Goldin.

“The prospect of a party room offered a new revenue stream, and it covers our leaner months,” said Goldin.

The Great Hall offers a solution to the problem of slow spots on the calendar.

“People have as many birthdays in January as they do at Halloween,” he noted.