Buying Book Seven (NO SPOILERS)

[Windsor]

I have to give a standing ovation to my local Barnes and Noble. They had nearly 2000 pre-orders of the book, and had roughly 1200 people there last night.

I stopped on my way home from work to get my arm band (I was in the Herminoe group) waited about 45 minutes (I was there 30 minutes before the arm band handout began at 5 pm - nice touch it was hot as hell (Florida/July...DUH!) they handed out free little bottles of water) went home, did stuff came back about 10.

They had plenty of stuff going on to keep people busy. The store is in a large strip mall and they had setup line stations covering almost the entire mall. The line stations were by character in groups of around 100. I was in the second group (Ron was first, SNape last) at 11 pm they cleared the store - announced the contest winners and moved them to the front of the line (that was the prize)

At 11:30 they let the first group into the store along a defined path and most of my group...11:50 everybody sang the Hogwarts song (they passed out the words) at midnight...air horn, fireworks (little fireworks) and they started selling. I had my back in hand (I was about 160 people into the line) at 12:15. I got my goody bag was in my car at 12:20. Amazingly well run.

I'm glad I went. It was fun...way more adults than I expected!

I'm assuming that all of the other B&N stores followed pretty much the same script.

I heard from a friend this morning that the local Borders was a disaster.

Anyone else who did the midngiht thing...how did it go?

[Dukerati]

I was not one of the pre-orderers so I had to take a back seat for about two hours, which was agonizing. I thought my Barnes and Noble did a good job of line control but I wish they had more than four registers going last night. I basically alternated sitting and standing all night with my IPOD blaring (to prevent any "undesirable" shouting out the ending).

As for the events, I got there around 11 and while people were festive, I did not find any activities particularly compelling. They had picture stations, costume contests, scavenger hunts, etc. My Barnes and Noble was definetely teenager heavy although the adults were out in force also.

[Cavlaw]

I just walked in and picked mine up from the local B&N (6pm, northside Chicago). There were a ton of copies available.

[hurleyfor3]

Earlier today I was in a Walgreens in Berkeley, California... they had them right at the register. I don't think of Walgreens as a place to go to get Henry Potter books, so these puppies don't seem to be in short supply.

[Windsor]

In the same mall as my Barnes and Noble, about 100 feet from where the last group was in line last night, the Publix Grocery store began selling the books and midnight as well. I was surprised to see almost everyone staying in line at B&N (when they were easily and hour or more from getting their book) rather than walking over to Publix, which was doing a brisk business in the book and had no wait.

Odd.

[blazindw]

I pre-ordered through Amazon...both mine and my roommate's copies were in our hands by 10:45am this morning.

[gus]

In the same mall as my Barnes and Noble, about 100 feet from where the last group was in line last night, the Publix Grocery store began selling the books and midnight as well. I was surprised to see almost everyone staying in line at B&N (when they were easily and hour or more from getting their book) rather than walking over to Publix, which was doing a brisk business in the book and had no wait.

Odd.

The big chain grocery store near me had an entire pallet full of Harry Potter books. But they weren't in French, so no one was buying them. The store nearby that caters to English and American ex-pats only had reserved copies and had a waiting list for those who hadn't reserved. Maybe people like the feeling of exclusivity and priority that waiting in line gives them? I don't know. There are plenty of copies out there, that people shouldn't need to stand in line or pay a premium.