Be prepared for the demise of Harry Potter

12:56pm Monday 26th February 2007

By Raeanne Nightingale

The seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter adventure will hit shelves at one minute past midnight on July 21 and is likely to cause shopping mayhem in Wiltshire.

Two major characters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are expected to meet a grisly end, with Harry fans facing a few more agonising months waiting to see if it's the main man himself who gets killed off.

Author JK Rowling is staying tight-lipped on the matter however so the Gazette has researched where the best buys are to make sure you don't miss the all-important big reveal in the summer.

Publishers Bloomsbury is releasing both a children's and adults' hardback edition, a special gift edition and an audio book on the same day.

Best buys

Surprisingly it's not a supermarket that's offering the cheapest basic hardback copy, as pre-ordering of the title begins to hot up.

The least wallet-busting tomes are available from Waterstone and Amazon at a price tag of £8.99, a whopping discount on the book's £17.99 recommended retail price. However supermarket giant Tesco is coming in a close second, selling the new Harry for £9.97.

Other outlets have also resorted to a selection of deals and free gifts to tempt buyers. Amazon is selling both the hardback and audio book together for £77.50 and WHSmith has matched Tesco's £9.97 hardback price and has promised that, should prices flucutate between now and the publication date, it will sell at the lowest rate available.

Meanwhile Waterstones is boosting it's already cheap price with an added incentive, a free copy of Wizardology: A Guide to Wizards of the World, worth £10.00, for every £8.99 copy sold.

Book retailers nationwide have been pushing customers to pre-order at the tills and are confident it will be another blockbuster.

Wayne Winstone, children's manager for Waterstone's, said: "Not only will this be the biggest selling book, it will also break all records to become the fastest selling book of all time.

"There are not many people who want to wait to find out what happens and risk hearing the news from their friends."

Head of books at online retailer Amazon, Christopher North, added: "It may be a long time before we see another book that commands as much anticipation, attention and demand as this final book in the Harry Potter series."

Tough competition

However, on a smaller independent scale the picture is not so rosy. Jo Williams of The Well Wisher, Long Street, Devizes, is likely to refrain from selling Harry Potter for the second year running as she would make a £5 loss on each book.

"We're just not going to bother I don't think as we can't sell it as cheaply as the supermarkets and everyone else," she admitted.

"We just can't compete. We didn't buy any of the last edition at all and, to be honest, we only had one person come in and ask for it.

"We are a children's book shop and we do have the biggest range that you can imagine, much greater than Waterstones for example carry, but with Harry Potter we would have to buy in such huge quantities to get a discount.

"It's shooting the book industry in the foot. Think of the poor old independents who can't possible compete."

Owner of Devizes Books, Jo Batchelor, paints a similar picture. She said: "We were actually taking orders for the new one when people collected the last one and we've probably sold about 20 so far.

"But to be honest the business we do with Harry Potter has been decreasing because so many people pre-order them from Amazon.

"I might well go and buy mine from Tesco to be honest because I can't buy it in here as cheaply as they sell it. I will get them for people who pre-order but that's it - I won't be stocking them in or opening at midnight.

"I get a 45 per cent discount from my wholesaler so that won't take me down to the half prices other people are going to."

Record breakers

Nevertheless, Harry Potter is big buisness for those who can afford to stock it.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book, was released on July 16, 2005, and was the fastest-selling book in history, selling 6.9 million copies worldwide in the first 24 hours.

All six Harry books - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - have been number one bestsellers in the UK, the United States and around the world.

The Potter books have sold 325 million copies worldwide, have been translated into 64 languages and spawned five blockbuster movies.

As well as making Rowling a dollar billionaire, the books have been credited with bringing children back to reading and reviving the British film industry.

The latest film based on the books, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, will be released in the UK on July 13.

For maximum Potter fun, children able to tear themselves away from the book will be able to take part in harry Potter trails at lacock Abbey this summer. For more details call 01249 730141.

What's your favourite Harry Potter book? Who do you think will be killed in the final installment? Should the price war be halted? Or do all things Potter leave you cold? Post your comments below.