Not So Wild About Harry

Independent booksellers adore Harry, but they’re not necessarily keen on what everyone’s favorite wizard brings to the bottom line. In fact, for some independents, launching a new Harry Potter book is as much a way to solidify loyalty with valued customers in the face of mounting competition for book buyers’ dollars from big-box retailers like Costco, Target, and Wal-Mart, as it is about profits.

“It’s not about finances,” explains Sarah Todd, manager of Children’s Book World in Haverford, PA. “It’s more for independents the fact that Harry is a wonderful way to reintroduce your store to people.”

Anne Irish, executive director of the 350-member Association of Booksellers for Children, says a lot of booksellers who held launch events for the latest Harry tome, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Scholastic), were “very disappointed.” “They could tell a lot of people were rushing off at 11:30” to buy the book at discounters. Yet, her members say Potter fever presented a golden marketing opportunity. “The message to customers was, 'we don’t get the same discount [as the big-box stores], but we give you a lot for your money’” in terms of customer service, says Irish. A Scholastic spokesman declined to comment.

“The big chains are practically giving it away,” says Magic Tree Bookstore co-owner, Iris Yipp of Oak Park, IL. “We ordered less than we did before. The next one we will have to order even less,” she says. Like many other independents, the venerable children’s bookstore, which opened in 1984, saw a surge in buyers for the first few days, which then leveled off, leaving the store with unsold copies of the Half-Blood Prince. But, says Yipp, the launch helped promote “the store overall.” Local merchants joined in the Harry celebration and a TV traffic reporter broadcast in front of the shop.

When asked whether Wal-Mart was using the book as a loss leader, Karen Burk, a company spokesperson says, “Our goal on every item on our store is to be the low-priced leader.” The big-box retailer sold the book for $15.78, or 47 percent off retail, according to its Web site. Target and Costco did not return phone calls.

Like other independents, Sharon Hearn of Children’s Book World, a bookseller in Los Angeles, says she doesn’t even try to compete on price. But “people are loyal to us,” she says. Hearn says she has never organized Harry-themed parties. And, though she is “a big fan” of the Potter books, Hearn declines to offer a discount. “We have such a low profit margin, it’s hard for me to run the kind of store I run with extensive inventory and knowledgeable staff who are college educated,” she explains.

But some independents were pleased with sales of the Half-Blood Prince. At Politics and Prose, a Washington, DC, bookshop, 1,500 adults and children showed up for its Potter party, says veteran children’s bookseller Jewell Stoddard. Stoddard says the latest Potter sold at least as well as the last volume, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003). “We have a client base that is very, very solid,” she says.