"Support your specialist bookseller"... happy to pay full price... it was closed.
So I went to Books Ltd (where I buy most of my books)... closed.
So I bought it at TESCO - open 7am every day.

I went to Asda last night at midnight to get the new book thinking it was

Must take issue with you a little there, JK!

The likes of Tesco are are huge profit making machines with thousands of staff. They can choose to open 24 hours a day, if they think that gives them an advantage over their smaller rivals, whether their employees like it or not. It's not so easy if you're running a small business.

I would admit though that maybe they could have made an effort for such a hyped one off as the last Harry Potter book.

I was surprised to learn that my local branch of WH Smith was open at midnight last night in a town with a 5000 population! I was almost tempted to go down and check out how many customers were there, but not quite tempted enough to raise myself from my armchair!

The thing is, Anthony, really involved, caring retailers work out when to do what... the Harry Potter book warranted unusual behaviour from small indie booksellers to beat the discounts.

I would much have preferred to pay full price and boost a small shop. I had to get it at Tesco.

You are quite right (as usual!), JK. It was a missed opportunity by your local book retailers. I do feel sorry in general terms though for the difficulties confronting smaller traders in the face of the giants.

I just purchased the Harry Potter book from Sainsbury's at

JK2006 wrote:
[quote]"Support your specialist bookseller"... happy to pay full price... it was closed.
So I went to Books Ltd (where I buy most of my books)... closed.
So I bought it at TESCO - open 7am every day.

Back in the old days, when I had some record shops, if there was an especially exciting new release such as a Beatles album or an import album like Captain Beefheart's 'Safe As Milk', I would open the shop at whatever time the goods arrived. The Beefheart arrived at about 8.00a.m. on a Sunday morning - John Peel came in to collect a copy and even gave us a mention on his BBC show later that evening, unheard of in those days.
The record business was really exciting in those times and it seems to me that the Harry Potter books have brought an immense amount new custom into book shops and every single one of them needs to harness that energy and supply the demand, or else they will die like the independent record shops have done

You are quite right Mickey.
Our closest record shop used to be a Saturday morning train ride, so full of excitement, the only decent specialist stockist south of London.
The owner was so respected he was a regular NME letter writer on reggae and punk.
The only shops like that now for specialist records these day must be turning over peanuts, many of them (in fact 2 down here) are cash only.

You've hit the nail on the head Mickey and encapsulated my argument.

The new Potter book was a brilliant excuse for small indie shops to show why THEY are worth patronising instead of Tesco.

If I had owned a tiny shop in Charing Cross Road, the extra gimmicks and tricks I would have used (not just open 24 hours for 2 days and nights but also in the NON MUGGLE WORLD (I'd have built a secret cardboard entry through a wall)... giveaway two-for-one copies of earlier books... special sale on Dickens original works to illustrate similarity... special WIZARD cocktails (non alcoholic) for every purchase giving SPECIAL POWERS... screenings of movies in windows for the queues...)

Anything to make a full price sale from MY SHOP far more attractive and publicity worthy than supermarket sales (TESCO and ASDA books are missing certain "secret" ingredients...)

That's selling.

And that's what dear old ONE STOP and others used to provide.

But isn't JK Rowling a supermarket household product of her own doing? She hasn't just done well in selling her stories (Which I'm sorry I dont rate) but she has done marvels in selling herself. What kind of author would organise a midnight publicity fest? She's done it before, and I doubt we've heard the last of this overrated author. I'm sorry but Terry Pratchett is much better and doesn't appear to cherish the same level of fame. The Harry Potter books are not unique in their tales of wizadry and magic... and I do not understand the big fuss.

I agree, Indie retailing lost it's edge. I owned a few record shops in the late 1970s/1980s, and every week I'd go to the Securicor Depot to collect my new releases at 6.00AM in the morning, so we would have them on display as the stores opened.

I remember having the Wham! Fantastic album first thing in the morning, and a customer complaining that we were selling it for