Potter Parties: Gearing Up for All Hallows' Eve

While Harry Potter fans await the series' swan song, scheduled for release when local clocks strike midnight on July 21, booksellers are diligently ringing up preorders, and preparing for finale parties, both extravagant and modest. Plans are being made in a retail landscape that will include deep discounting on the part of some retailers, and some independent booksellers are grappling with the benefits of mounting large, well-attended events vis-a-vis the costs to their bottom lines.

In Salem, Massachusetts, witches figure significantly in local history and lore. For Cornerstone Books in Salem, which turned a year old in January, this final installment will be its first Harry Potter release. Beth Simpson, the store's events coordinator, is enthusiastic about the plans for it's the store's first and only Potter party. "Salem is Witch City," Simpson told BTW, "so there's more than average interest in that sort of thing." For starters, she said that Cornerstone was participating in the Book Sense Independent Muggles for Harry Potter Sweepstakes.

Scores of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Scholastic) have been presold to be picked up at the Cornerstone party. Beginning on Friday afternoon, June 20, fans are invited to watch films; later in the evening judges will determine the winners of prizes for costumes, trivia, and writing contests. A bona fide wizard, who purveys magic and fortune telling, will also materialize along with Hogwarts-themed treats.

Diane Capriola, co-owner of Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia, is enjoying the hoopla surrounding the release. When Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released two years ago, the store had only been open for two weeks. Still, she said, the store sold 90 copies. This time she anticipates sales will be more than double that -- over 100 have been already been presold and another 100 were ordered.

The 1,500-square-foot children's bookstore is treating those who prepay royally: They receive an invitation on parchment with a faux wax seal to "Requiem for a Wizard: An Evening of Magic, Remembrance, and Farewells with Games and Fun to Distract Us from Our Sorrow."

Capriola told BTW that a large empty space adjoining the store will provide ample room for wand, candy, and potion-making. There will also be a Hagrid look-alike contest.

Using a Sorting Hat for "crowd control," the staff will admit those who have pre-purchased the book into one of the four houses of Hogwarts. The local library is sponsoring an Obituary Writing Contest for kids to pen final respects to whichever characters they predict will need them.

"We'll stay open until the last book ordered is distributed. The last time we closed at about 2:00 a.m.; then we'll open early, at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday," Capriola sighed. She noted that "no one has balked" at the store's decision not to discount the book. "This is a great community," she continued, "People here are loyal to locally owned businesses. Naturally they'll come here to buy the book and for the party."

At Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida, a Potter Prognosticators Party is planned to begin at 11:30 p.m. on Friday, July 20, said store co-owner Leslie Reiner. Inkwood is also prominently promoting the Independent Muggles Sweepstakes in its publicity information. Fans are invited to visit the store to preorder the books and to pick up the entry form for the sweepstakes.

According to Reiner, this celebration will mark a change from its last Potter release party. The evening program, open to people who have already purchased the book, will be held in the 1,400-square-foot store. For the release of the sixth book in the series, Reiner explained, the event was held in a large, off-site venue. "It was a major event and a major expense," she said. "An enormous number of people came who had purchased the book elsewhere. We wanted to do something different. We'll offer treats, readings, and fortune-telling as people count down to midnight."

This year, each prepaid copy entitles purchasers to pick up the book at midnight, and the store will include a Mugglebuck Coupon good for their next purchase. Reiner is quick to credit Park Road Books in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Mugglebucks idea.

Inkwood will also guarantee delivery of the book by 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 21, via Free Owl Post, within limited flight range. Muggle Mail will deliver the book on the on-sale date to campers or other far-flung friends, with prepayment of the book and delivery charges.

Reiner anticipates that the store will sell several hundred copies. "I haven't heard as much price resistance as I expected, there's no sticker shock," she told BTW. "More than half have been preordered."

All three booksellers are anticipating successful events along with very strong book sales as the curtain falls on the series. As Simpson of Salem, put it, " It's all about the books --celebrating the release and mourning the end." --Nomi Schwartz