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Recount your Harry Potter / Deathly Hallows publication day experience(s)

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Recount your Harry Potter / Deathly Hallows publication day experience(s)

Old 07-21-07, 11:12 AM
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Recount your Harry Potter / Deathly Hallows publication day experience(s)

I didn't reserve, so I had to use the wristband system at Barnes and Noble. A friend got there right at 6 and got us #'s 12 and 13. So we get there, and we are forced to wait outside. For over an hour and half. In the Florida heat. In 90%+ humidity. It was the worst system I have ever seen. We went to this same store when Half Blood Prince was released and we waited the entire time inside the store. We finally got inside, and had to wait in another line for about 40 minutes. I got out of there about 1:10, which wasn't too bad, all things considered. I would guess there were at least 1,200 people at this one location.



(mod note: I started this new thread instead of posting to the other thread so people would be free from spoilers)
Old 07-21-07, 11:21 AM
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I waited and went to Target this morning. Picked it up 30 minutes after they opened without very many people there for $17.99. I'm not a big enough fan to do the midnight thing (and to avoid stuff like that). I'd be too tired to even read much of it at that rate.
Old 07-21-07, 11:34 AM
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I knew Target had it for $17.99 (50% off) but I called the local Walmarts last night to see what they were selling it for. One had it for $17.78 & the other at $17.88. I went to the closest Walmart (even closer than Target) & picked it up around 10 this morning. They had a huge stack of them about 3 feet high. Took a few minutes to find one that didn't have majore creases on the dust jacket & paid for it. So here it sits about 10 feet away from me. Haven't read any of it yet other than to look at the last page to see if the spoilers were true.
Old 07-21-07, 12:00 PM
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Went to wait in line and Barnes and Nobles last night in Forest Hills around 10:30... Huge ass line. So my wife waited in line as I went to go get some gum and something to drink at the Duane Reade that was open 24 hours. Saw that they were selling the book beginning at midnight as well. Went back and told the wife. At 11:50, the wife walked back over to Duane Reade and picked up 2 copies and we were out of there by 12:15.
Old 07-21-07, 03:40 PM
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^Similar experience here.

I wanted to share the fun with my daughter, so we had the book reserved at our local B&N. We got there at 10:30 to find a HUGE crowd of probably 2000 people in a system of four gigantic lines. We would have been in the third of these lines and most likely gotten our book around 2am. We left a little disappointed but on our way home decided to try our local 24-hour supermarket. There were about 40 people in line there waiting, and we got the book at 12:13am for 45% off. Read the first chapter until about 1am and we're reading all day.
Old 07-21-07, 04:09 PM
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I walked into Walmart at 12:20, grabbed at book off of a nearly empty pallet, paid, and was reading by 12:35. I've waited in my fair share of lines, like the movie for example (where seats matter), but I could really care less where I get the book or lining up for it.
Old 07-21-07, 04:12 PM
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Seems like Barnes and Noble is the only place where there was problems, I saw plenty at Walmart, Best Buy and Target this morning. (mine came in a nice little themed box from Amazon today)
Old 07-21-07, 04:41 PM
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It was terrible at Borders. They had a lame wristband system with a bazillion people. They had some guy on terrible PA system doing contests and spelling bees.

I dont understand why people couldn't just pay for the book during the day and have people pick them up at midnight. They probably could have given them out in 10 minutes.
Old 07-21-07, 04:44 PM
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Originally Posted by chrisih8u
It was terrible at Borders. They had a lame wristband system with a bazillion people. They had some guy on terrible PA system doing contests and spelling bees.

I dont understand why people couldn't just pay for the book during the day and have people pick them up at midnight. They probably could have given them out in 10 minutes.
Barnes and Noble had over 600 reserves. Not sure if they all showed up, but I assume most if not all were pre-paid. Still took them over an hour to get through them all.
Old 07-21-07, 04:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Quake1028
Barnes and Noble had over 600 reserves. Not sure if they all showed up, but I assume most if not all were pre-paid. Still took them over an hour to get through them all.
Oh, at Borders they didnt let you pre-pay. They rang everyone up after 12.
Old 07-21-07, 05:15 PM
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My copy hasn't arrived from Amazon yet - and they guarantee today.
Old 07-21-07, 06:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Seeker
My copy hasn't arrived from Amazon yet - and they guarantee today.
Weird, I even went with free shipping at it came today via UPS. I suppose the incredible volume will deal with some misses though.
Old 07-21-07, 08:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Quake1028
Barnes and Noble had over 600 reserves. Not sure if they all showed up, but I assume most if not all were pre-paid. Still took them over an hour to get through them all.

BN didn't do pre-pays either, unless you want it ship-to-home.

I work at the store in Fairfield, CA. We had over 1000 people and we got through the crowd by about 1:30 with some random stragglers till about two. I thought we did an decent job. The only tough part was at 11:30 when we started the line in the store (we were at capacity by 9, so there was a line outside as well), and there was so much noise we had a hard time getting everyone to listen to us. Once the book went on sale it was a breeze.

My favorite part of the evening was at 11:55 a woman stopped me on my way up to the registers (I was on box opening detail) to ask if she can special order some knitting book. I told her there wasn't time and she gave me a nasty look. Last night was the worst night to just shop around.
Old 07-21-07, 08:25 PM
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Originally Posted by starman9000
Weird, I even went with free shipping at it came today via UPS. I suppose the incredible volume will deal with some misses though.
I got it finally at 8pm CDT
Old 07-21-07, 08:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Elpresidentepez
BN didn't do pre-pays either, unless you want it ship-to-home.

I work at the store in Fairfield, CA. We had over 1000 people and we got through the crowd by about 1:30 with some random stragglers till about two. I thought we did an decent job. The only tough part was at 11:30 when we started the line in the store (we were at capacity by 9, so there was a line outside as well), and there was so much noise we had a hard time getting everyone to listen to us. Once the book went on sale it was a breeze.

My favorite part of the evening was at 11:55 a woman stopped me on my way up to the registers (I was on box opening detail) to ask if she can special order some knitting book. I told her there wasn't time and she gave me a nasty look. Last night was the worst night to just shop around.
You guys did an amazing job. Like I said, I was #13 in line and I didn't get out until 1:10.
Old 07-21-07, 08:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Seeker
I got it finally at 8pm CDT
Amazon's guarantee was by 7pm. I wonder if they'll refund your money?
Old 07-21-07, 09:56 PM
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It was sitting in in the driveway behind the gate where I told UPS to leave it.
Old 07-21-07, 10:18 PM
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I have to kind of chuckle at the people who preordered, got wristbands, waited in line and sold their first-born child to get "Deathly Hallows" at midnight.

I stopped at a local grocery store after getting off work at midnight to get some ground beef. Right inside the door a woman was unboxing "Deathly Hallows" and putting the books in a big display. She asked if I wanted one, so I grabbed it. There were only three other people in the entire store, so there was no effort involved whatsoever. I paid $19.99 for it, which seemed fair to me.
Old 07-21-07, 10:42 PM
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I must be the only cheapskate here. I'm on the waiting list at the library--number 37 now. Since there are 95 copies at my library not counting large print, I'm figuring I'll get it in a week or two and save the money.
Old 07-21-07, 10:47 PM
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walmart 7am this morn..the only person i saw buying it was me
Old 07-21-07, 11:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Salty
I stopped at a local grocery store after getting off work at midnight to get some ground beef. Right inside the door a woman was unboxing "Deathly Hallows" and putting the books in a big display. She asked if I wanted one, so I grabbed it. There were only three other people in the entire store, so there was no effort involved whatsoever. I paid $19.99 for it, which seemed fair to me.
Fry's Electronics in my area today had some 7,000 copies to sell of the book at US$15. Just for fun, I drove by the store just before it opened and there was a BIG line of people waiting to get in just to buy this book.
Old 07-21-07, 11:37 PM
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Walked to my local grocery store at about 11:55, did some very minor shopping, asked for a copy of the book while checking out, started reading about 12:08
Old 07-22-07, 01:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Quake1028
You guys did an amazing job. Like I said, I was #13 in line and I didn't get out until 1:10.

You didn't read my post clearly. FAIRFIELD, CA got through over 1000 people by 1:30. Sounds like your local BN didn't plan their event very well. We have been planning for months. QUESTION: you said you didn't preorder, so how did you get so far up in line? My store gave priority to preorders, they got yellow wristbands. Non-preorders got blue wristbands, they got their books last no matter what. So if your friend got you #13 was that in the second line ? or did it take them 70 minutes to ring out 13 people?

A lot of customers know that their local grocery stores and department stores will be carrying the book, but come to BN, Borders, etc. for the games and atmosphere. It sucks that there's stores that ruin the experience with poor planning and unprepared employees. This book is a big deal for the book industry. While BN and just about every other store won't be making much money off of the sales of HP 7, theres a long term benefit of keeping people reading.
Old 07-22-07, 06:53 AM
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Had pre-bought it (for my nephew) at Books-a-million, $18 and free booklight. Picked it up Saturday afternoon, no line, tons of copies everywhere.
Old 07-22-07, 12:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Elpresidentepez
You didn't read my post clearly. FAIRFIELD, CA got through over 1000 people by 1:30. Sounds like your local BN didn't plan their event very well. We have been planning for months. QUESTION: you said you didn't preorder, so how did you get so far up in line? My store gave priority to preorders, they got yellow wristbands. Non-preorders got blue wristbands, they got their books last no matter what. So if your friend got you #13 was that in the second line ? or did it take them 70 minutes to ring out 13 people?

A lot of customers know that their local grocery stores and department stores will be carrying the book, but come to BN, Borders, etc. for the games and atmosphere. It sucks that there's stores that ruin the experience with poor planning and unprepared employees. This book is a big deal for the book industry. While BN and just about every other store won't be making much money off of the sales of HP 7, theres a long term benefit of keeping people reading.
Yes, we were 12 and 13 in the blue line. And I did read your post clearly. I was saying you guys did amazing getting through everyone by 1:30 when there were probably 500 people left to buy after I got out at 1:10 at the Tampa store.

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