Vicky Nanjappa in Bangalore
Potter-mania gripped Bangalore on Saturday morning, but interestingly there were more parents in the book stores than children thanks to the midterm examinations, scheduled to commence in Karnataka from Monday onwards.
Bookstores in Bangalore claim that they made huge sales between 6 am and 9 am. While the Landmark at the Forum Mall in Koramangala sold 1000 copies of the book in three hours, Crosswords which is off Brigade Road managed to sell around 600 copies. Higginbothams, Premier book store, Sankar's, Sapna book house said that they were expecting more crowd during the course of the day and expected to sell at least 1500 books by the end of the day.
Barring Crosswords and Higginbothams, the rest of the shops in the Bangalore were selling the books at a discounted price. While at Landmark the book was offered at Rs 795, Premier book store was selling the book at Rs 650. The Sapna book house had offered an early bird offer and those coming in between 6 and 6.30 am got the book at Rs 600.
Hassan, the manager at Crossword told rediff.com that although the sales for this book was higher compared to the previous one, there were more parents than kids at the book store. He said parents and a few children had come to the book store at 6 am itself. He also added that they had around 2000 copies of the book and would order for at least another 2000 at the end of the day.
The Landmark at the Forum mall however wore a festive look. Breakfast was served for all customers and there were also many games in the offing. Apart from the discount, there were various other offers such as a free membership card for those who purchased the book.
Navkesh Batra, who was out on the street at 6 am said to purchase a book for his daughter, Mukta said that he had received at least 10 calls from his daughter asking whether he managed to lay his hands on the book. Gagan, a Class V student from the Vidya Niketan School said he is very eager to get back home and read the book. Although many people had told him that the book was on the net already, he did not try and read it. I swore that I would read only the book, he added.
Arjun S, a class 8 student of Sophiyas School said that he is sure that the book would live up to its expectations. He said he did try searching for the book online, but did not manage to find it.
Srinivas, who works at the Landmark was quite an attraction. He had Harry Potter painted on his forehead. He said that the book has lived up to its hype. He said that they were expecting more crowds during the course of the day and added that they may have to order atleast for another 3000 copies by the end of the weekend.
All book stores in the city have tied up with the local police to keep a tab on piracy. Book stores do expect that the book may be available on the road side by the end of the day and could be available for barely Rs 200.
Police are keeping a tab on this, they added.
Earlier slide show: The story so far: The Philosopher's Stone
Advertisement
