This short alley opens into a 20 foot (6 m) square court. The only doors from the court are those of Ju-Ju House and the back door of an abandoned pawnshop that fronts onto 138th Street.

The shop-front on the court consists of a display window and a glass door. Both are curtained so that the interior of the shop cannot be seen. In the display window are genuine pieces of African art. According to the handwritten card propped up in the bottom corner of the window, shop hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed on Sundays, with lunch between 12 and 1 p.m.

The shop interior is a mere 15 by 20 feet (4.5 by 6 m), and only Silas N’Kwane tends it. Another room of similar dimensions, where N’Kwane lives, is hidden behind a thick blanket at the rear of the premises. The shop itself is dirty, dusty, and piled with African tribal artifacts and bric-a-brac—devil masks, leatherheaded drums, stuffed model giraffes, carved wildebeests, dull hand weapons intended for display, ivory warthogs, and so on. The shop has an oppressive, uneasy feel to it, especially if the investigators break in at night.