PORT ANGELES — A new branch of Dazzled by Twilight, carrying merchandise and helping fans organize trips around the Twilight phenomenon, will open today.
Dazzled by Twilight — which features exclusively merchandise from the movie and book series — set up shop in Forks in January and picked up the Twilight Tours from the Forks Chamber of Commerce in March.
A new Port Angeles branch will open at 10 a.m. at 135 E. First St. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week.
The shop will be co-owned and managed by fan Victoria McDonald — who was also the first in line to snag tickets to the Port Angeles midnight showing of the movie “Twilight” — based on the novel of the same name — when it was released in November.
The stores celebrate Arizona author Stephenie Meyer’s novels, which detail the love story between the human Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen after Bella moves to rainy Forks to live with her dad, Charlie, the city police chief.
Twilight was the first of a series, followed by New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.
“New Moon,” the movie, is due out Nov. 20 of this year. “Eclipse” is expected out in June 2010, but an announcement has not been made about “Breaking Dawn.”
McDonald said the store should stay busy at least through the last of the movies.
“This is one of those things that, just when you think it is ending, it takes off running again,” she said.
Line buddy
While McDonald waited many hours to see “Twilight,” Annette Root, the owner and founder of the Forks shop, stood next to her.
The rest, McDonald said, is history.
“She was my line buddy, and we’ve been friends ever since,” McDonald said.
McDonald, the former director of member services for the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce, said she will work closely with the Olympic Peninsula Visitors Bureau to help fans and tour groups coordinate sight-seeing trips throughout the Peninsula.
“We are looking at the Forks store as the flagship store, and this one will be more of a teaser of what is out there and more in a boutique style,” McDonald said.
The new store will also focus on Port Angeles-centric merchandise.
Although Forks is the primary setting of the books, Port Angeles also plays a large part in the books.
It is in Port Angeles where Bella goes to the movies, has her first date with Edward — at Bella Italia — and buys books to research Edward’s true nature as a vampire.
McDonald’s store, at the corner of Lincoln and First streets, is near the Lincoln Theater, where “Twilight” was screened, and Bella Italia.
“I couldn’t have dreamt up a better location,” McDonald said.
Twilight Tour
At the store, visitors can get assistance in booking the Twilight Tour, which is $39. The tour shows off the Forks sites that are mentioned in the vampire novels, including Forks High School, Forks Police station, the Cullen home and Swan home as well as LaPush.
McDonald said she became enthralled with the books when her teenage daughter — whose name is Bella like the main character — convinced her to read them.
“I was instantly hooked,” she said.
She said the story of first love and the moral fortitude of the book — Bella and Edward remain chaste while unmarried — are what kept her hooked.
“Edward is amazing,” she said.
“He is a vampire, so there is that, but he is what every girl dreams of wanting in a man and what every woman sees in her own husband.
“Everyone wants to be someone’s Bella.”
McDonald is married to Peninsula Daily News Advertising Director Sean McDonald.
For more information visit www.dazzledbytwilight.com or phone the new store at 360-452-8800.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsula dailynews.com.
