News

  • Nation
  • World Updates
  • Courts
  • Parliament
  • Columnists
  • Opinion
  • Honours List

Sunday July 22, 2007

Potter mania: Thousands line up to get a copy

By MANJIT KAUR, FARIK ZOLKEPLI, MICHELLE GOH and NUR AKMAL

newsdesk@thestar.com.my

Harry Potter fans lining up for the finale
MPH Bookstores' Sorcerer’s Ball

KUALA LUMPUR: Couple Mohd Sharizam Hamzah and Noor Azean Kamaruddin camped in front of the MPH bookstore in Mid Valley Megamall here since 10pm on Friday just to be the first ones to get a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The students from UiTM Shah Alam are avid fans of Harry Potter and although they had pre-ordered the book on Feb 18, they could not wait to get their hands on a copy to learn the fate of the teenage wizard.

“We brought along some food with us and due to our excitement, we did not sleep. Only after reading the novel, will we catch up on some sleep,” said Mohd Sharizam when met at the bookshop yesterday.

They were among the thousands of fans who lined up for hours at the doors of various bookshops throughout Malaysia to get copies of the greatly awaited novel.

MPH Bookstores marketing manager Renee Koh said there were over 5,000 pre-orders for the book.

Over at Carrefour at the same mall, the first person to arrive at the hypermarket at 4.45am was 25-year-old Adelene Pook from Brickfields.

The auditor only slept at 2am after watching the fourth Harry Potter movie shown on cable television.

“I woke up at 4am and quickly rushed to the mall with my mother to be the first one to grab the book. Since the price is cheaper and the hypermarket is nearer to my house, I decided to come here,” she said.

About 400 people lined up at the hypermarket when its doors opened at 7.01am. Store director Shaninaz Shafie said there were about 1,000 copies of the book for sale.

When contacted at 5pm, a customer service personnel at Carrefour said stocks of the book at most of its outlets were already sold out.

Potter mania: A big crowd of diehard Harry Potter fans at the Tesco Hypermarket in Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya. People queued up as early as 5am to make sure that they were able to get a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There were similar scenes at other hypermarkets and bookstores nationwide. - SAM THAM/The Star
At Tesco in Mutiara Damansara here, people began queuing from as early as 5am and when the doors opened at 7.01am, several hundred people streamed into the hypermarket to grab their copy of the book.

Most said they went there because of the price of the books.

“The price is really affordable, which is why I am here,” said Paul Morris, 35.

About 1,000 people queued up at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Suria KLCC and most of them were already there by 4am to be the lucky 13 to get free copies of the book.

Daniel Rajusingam and Donavan Liew, both 13, were the top three who walked away with the special edition of the book worth RM235 with author J.K. Rowling’s signature.

The other 10 lucky winners got the normal editions.

Die-hard fan Amir Aziz, 23, said he came to KLCC at midnight and stayed at the KLCC Park for the door to open at 5am. He was the 13th lucky person to get the normal edition free.

In Johor Baru, lawyer John Fernandez, whose two daughters are die-hard fans of Harry Potter, said buying the book at RM69.90 was definitely a bargain.

At Carrefour here, the books were sold out within six hours, as throngs of people were already queuing up as early as 6.40am.

Related Stories:
Malaysians show ugly side during rush for Book 7
Potter fans upset with bookshops’ decision

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story

News Poll