No. 5 is 'fastest selling book in history'
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
It wasn't The Second Coming — it only seemed that way.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
What it was, really, was the Fifth Arrival of Harry Potter, in the form of the long-awaited "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," by J.K. Rowling.
Staff members at Waldenbooks in Windward Mall check their list of people who reserved copies of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the latest in the series.
Judging by what some were saying, it was an event unrivaled since Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type around 1455.
"You don't want to miss the most important event in the history of the printed word," said Brian Melzack, of Bestsellers Books in downtown Honolulu, who showed up bright and early to greet the dozens of partons who waited patiently outside the doors. "I'm not kidding. This is the fastest selling book in history. Period. I mean, the whole idea of the printed word is to get the word read. And kids — girls and boys alike — as well as adults, are all reading this book."
"It's big news," quipped E.S "Max" Aronov, who was working behind the counter after the doors opened.
"There is nothing else. World peace broke out, and disease has ended for all time."
For a while yesterday it was as if such matters as terrorism, world conflict and monkeypox had been magically erased by the spell of the young wizard of Hogwarts Academy.
Melzack said that according to his inside sources, of the 8 million-plus copies in the United States, some 40,000 had been shipped to Hawai'i. Apparently, most of those were snatched up in a hurry. As an indication of the pace of sales, Melzack's downtown location alone sold more copies of the new Potter before noon than it sold of Hillary Clinton's "Living History" since that book was released June 9.
Costco, which sold the books to long lines of discount members on a "first come, first served" basis, had gone through its entire O'ahu inventory by midday.
Bestsellers was possibly the only regular retail outlet in Honolulu selling "Order of the Phoenix" to walk-in customers throughout the entire day. Other locations, such as Borders, Barnes & Noble and Waldenbooks, sold copies to walk-in customers for a brief period of an hour or two in the morning, and then restricted sales to those who had pre-ordered copies ahead of time.
"I heard on CNN that all the books are sold out everywhere," said Kaye Fredericks of Manoa after waiting in line at Borders Books at Ward Centre only to be politely turned away at the counter.
"Do you have Harry Potter?" said tourist Laura Ellingson of San Jose, Calif., uttering the oft repeated phrase. "No? You're out? Oh, I wanted to read a copy on the plane tonight."
Over at Barnes & Noble at the Kahala Mall, customer service representative Maluhia Palea informed one walk-in customer after another that there were no available copies.
"I can't even count the number of times I've been asked, 'Do you have Harry Potter?' in the past two days," she said. "Now, they start out by saying, 'I know this is a really stupid question . . .'"
Meanwhile, Catherine Fuller, a 36-year-old Iolani School teacher, strolled out the door with a copy she'd ordered three months ago. Like many adults, Fuller said she was reading it strictly by herself.
"I bought it for me," she said. "I've read 'em all. They are good books for adults to be kids again."
Pat Banning of Bookends in Kailua said she had sold 200 copies over the counter by 10 a.m., and then spent the rest of the day passing out most of another 200 pre-ordered copies.
"It's been absolutely crazy," said Banning. "One woman came in who had ordered her copy two years ago. She was delighted. I've never seen anything quite like this before."
Some stores reported that they had begun to get the hang of Harry Potter book release extravaganzas, in spite of the colossal volume.
Mike Bumgarner, general manager of Waldenbooks at the Windward Mall, said that at one point "a serpentine line" of as many as 400 people snaked through the store, out the door and around the side of the building. But the sales staff — most of them dressed in appropriate costume — handled the load with aplomb.
"We planned this better than the last time we had a Harry Potter book," Bumgarner explained. "Before, it was unorganized chaos. Today, we had normal chaos."
