After seeing a shopper
stampede the first weekend of Harry Potter latest
tale, retailers say interest in the magical boy
wizard subsided Saturday and Sunday, helping them
keep pace with customer demand.
The challenge for merchants, of course, is to fuel
Harry Potter mania while interesting shoppers with
other books and related merchandise.
Last Tuesday, the U.S. publisher of J.K. Rowling
(news - web sites)'s record-breaking series
announced it had ordered another 800,000 copies of
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,"
bringing the total in print to 9.3 million.
Additional copies are expected to arrive over the
next few weeks, company officials said.
At Sam's Club in Annapolis, Md. on Saturday, Janet
Thomas of North Beach, Md., said her search for
the book was at the Annapolis Mall, where store
supplies were depleted. She found her copy at a
nearby Sam's Club.
"But I would have kept looking until I found one,"
she said.
At Brookline Booksmith, a local bookseller in
Boston, there weren't any customers on Saturday
looking to buy Harry Potter books. In fact, many
already had them.
Dorothy O'Connell, 70, said her 14-year-old
grandson had already read the book.
Retailers — both here and abroad — said they have
worked hard to make sure they have enough books on
hand.
Jenny Rose, a spokeswoman for the Waterstone's
bookstores in Britain, said they have not sold out
of the latest Harry Potter installment. The
company does not give out sales figures, but she
noted that sales have "lived up to expectations."
"Right now, we have a comfortable stock level,"
said Ann Binkley, a spokeswoman at Borders Group,
the nation's second-largest bookchain, though she
said that by the middle of the week the inventory
"may be running low."
Borders Group Inc., which operates stores under
Borders and Waldenbooks, is expected to report the
weekend's sales on Monday. Last weekend, Borders
sold 900,000 copies of the fifth Harry Potter
book, and cited an uptick in other Harry Potter
merchandise, as well as Hillary Rodham Clinton "Living History."
Brookline Booksmith sold 700 copies of the book on
the first day. That included 400 copies that were
on a reserve list.
At a Hawley-Cooke Booksellers store in Louisville,
Ky., a stack of Harry Potter books on a table sat
undisturbed Saturday afternoon. Assistant manager
Nicole Hambleton suspects that shoppers were
probably outdoors enjoying sunny weather, but last
week, consumers "couldn't get enough 'Harry
Potter.'"
"Most of the kids that I've talked to have either
been coming in to buy it or have finished it
already," Hambleton said.
Her store had ordered 2,200 copies of the book.
Within a week, 1,500 had been sold.
With overall book sales in a slump, stores are
hoping that customers will not only buy the book
but also pick up other merchandise, as well. So
far, results have been mixed.
At the Children's Book store in Baltimore,company
officials said the new book hasn't spurred
increase in sales of other items. It's offering
Harry Potter tapes and CDs, but not selling other
Potter merchandise.
At Independent Tatter Cover Bookstore in downtown
Denver, Edward Booker, buying manager, said the
store reported strong sales of the book, though
"sales have trickled down."
The store also put out other fiction books related
toward teens and children.
"We wanted to make sure to have a lot of other
kids books available," Booker said. "Not because
we'd think we'd run out, but these are kids that
are interested in reading."
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