July 27, 2007

Harry Potter mania at Barnes & Noble Eastridge

Fans line up in droves for J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

By Diego Abeloos
Editor

Harry Potter fans filled the aisles of Barnes & Noble Eastridge and formed lines that wrapped around the building as the bookstore celebrated the midnight release of author J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, on July 21.

Local Harry Potter fans were all smiles after walking out of Barnes & Noble Eastridge with their copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the early morning hours of July 21. Photos by Diego Abeloos

According to Barnes & Noble Eastridge community relations manager, Mike Koller, approximately 1,000 fans took part in pre-release activities at the store on the evening of July 20. Per company policy, Koller said he could not divulge specific book sale numbers, but noted the store’s initial stock of the book was nearly sold out as of Tuesday, July 24. Koller noted that initial planning for the event began as early as December of 2006 and said the event went “very smoothly.”

“With anything like this, for any large scale event, you always have to have not only your plan A, but also your plan B and C as well,” said Koller. “A lot of the planning that went into it included logistics, figuring out where the lines were supposed to go, and if there was overflow, what we going to do with that, and so forth. It was just a lot of mental preparation in terms of figuring out where things were going to go and how things were going to operate.”

Koller said the store planned several activities for its customers related to the event, beginning with Harry Potter story time, where volunteers and employees read their favorite selections of the series to young fans. In addition, fans were tested for their Harry Potter trivia knowledge with four game stations set up around the store during the evening of July 20.

Fans crowded the aisles of Barnes & Noble Eastridge, waiting in line for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on July 21. Photos by Diego Abeloos

“It was quite successful,” Koller said of the pre-release activities. “It was a small surprise for me because I wasn’t sure how the games would go over. It was something new to try.”

Phil and Jenn D’Angelo, who attended the book release with their niece, Chyenne, were among those in attendance for the fun.

“We are really excited,” Jenn D’Angelo said while waiting for the book’s release on the night of July 20. “We were here at 7 (p.m.) when the party first started and we’ve been here ever since. We haven’t left the building at all.”

Fans weren’t the only ones dressed in Harry Potter attire for the event. Koller said the store’s booksellers also got in on the act, dressing appropriately in Harry Potter outfits as part of an employee costume contest.

“When we finally got the majority of the plans in place, I started looking at what we could do to make this fun for our booksellers, because we have to have fun with this too,” said Koller. “If we’re having fun, then obviously the customers will have fun too.”

Above right: A Barnes & Noble Eastridge employee begins to cut away the wrapping of boxes containing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows after the clock struck midnight. Barnes & Noble Eastridge employees worked until about 2:30 a.m. on July 21, serving customers waiting in line for the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

And the booksellers were also quite busy into the early morning hours of July 21 for the event.

“We were here until about 2:30 (a.m.),” said Koller. “…It was definitely ‘all hands on deck.’ Everybody was working on Friday.”

Koller, who also took part in Harry Potter book release activities in his previous position as the community relations manager at Barnes & Noble on Almaden Expressway, said the release of the seventh and final Harry Potter book brought about mixed feelings for him.

“There’s always that ‘ah,’ it’s done and I can move on to X, Y, Z,” said Koller. “It’s kind of bittersweet too, since it is the last book, as far as the series goes. It’s not like in another two or three years, we’re looking at doing this again. It was kind of bittersweet in that aspect, but historic as well.”