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The new Harry Potter saga - which 48 hours ago had youngsters in a fever of anticipation - has book retailers expecting big things, even if business seemed a little slow in Central Auckland yesterday.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final instalment in the popular series about the adventures of a young wizard, appeared to be vying with discounted Chuck Taylors sneakers for shoppers' attention in The Warehouse at Westfield Downtown. The display table, however, did look depleted.
The first six books in the series about Harry's adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and his battles with Lord Voldemort have sold 325 million copies and been translated into 64 languages.
The book - which retails at The Warehouse for $29.99 - went on sale nationwide at 11.01am on Saturday.
But further up Queen St at Whitcoulls - where it sells for $32.99 - it was attracting about as much attention as a biography of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. To be fair to Harry, though, it was 4.30pm on a chilly Sunday afternoon.
One Dymocks employee said that as well as a lot of advance sales, casual sales had been steady. That the display table resembled a child's ransacked birthday party spread suggested the store had enjoyed a solid run.
Customers at Dymocks in Wellington were served by staff wearing academic gowns with burgundy capes and mortar boards and were treated to magic shows leading up to the book's release.
Borders' regional manager Justin Barratt said about 150 people were at its Lambton Quay store in Wellington.
Borders Queen St general manager Peter George - though unable to give exact figures - said the Deathly Hallows had seen pre-orders five times greater than that of earlier Potter instalments.
The titles were favourites with children and parents alike, and the book was expected to be "very popular".
Which is probably just as well, as the Herald gave up counting at around 1000 copies at the Queen St branch yesterday afternoon.
- Additional reporting: NZPA
