Friday night, Mama Cloudy took Partly Cloudy and I down to the Borders Bookstore to brave the crowds and pick up her copy of the new, and finally, Harry Potter book (and book on CD). Boy, was it ever a mad house down there!
We got there about 10:30 or so, which we imagined to be plenty of time to get there, get a wristband, get the book, and be home by 12:30, 1:00 at the latest. HA! That's right, HA! We way underestimated the power and allure of the Harry Potter series. The fans were out in full force, and I was there to meet them. We definitely witnessed some strange goings on at this particular bookstore. I am convinced that one group of attendees were not 100% positive of where they were. They came dressed as pirates and jedi, and even had a lightsaber fight in that parking lot!
We also discovered that book buying is now considered a spectator sport. Who woulda thunk? Across from the door to the bookstore were several people camped out in camping chairs. Perhaps waiting for a book fight to break out?
Waiting in line was pretty rough for me being that I'm still a fetus and my limbs are still under severe development. Partly Cloudy had to help me out a bit and keep me upright. Luckily, Mama Cloudy said she didn't mind if PC and I went into the store to see what was going on there.
It was jam packed in there! I took a spin around the store to see what all was going on. There were a ton of people cozied up in the aisle reading books to keep themselves occupied. I also found some awesome, hardcore fans! I'll just show you, cause that'll be easier than trying to describe these kick ass folks.
I wandered back outside to find my peeps only to realized that it was getting late and they weren't letting anyone back into the store. The Borders that we had gone to closed at its regular hour of 9:00pm, but then re-opened from 10:00p - 2:00a especially for this book release. We got a chance to talk to Dan, the Regional Manager for Borders (he was watching the door), who told us that the store had extended special hours before, but usually for CDs, not books. The store had prepared for the influx of Harry Potter fans by separating groups into wristband colors. Six colors, with 200 bands per color, for reserved copies and then one color (red) for everyone that had not reserved a copy of the book. We ended up in the 4th color group, pink, which meant that we had to wait for about 600 people to get their book, pay, and get out of the store before we could even go in.
Midnight struck! And you could feel the excitement of the crowd intensify. Everyone was eager to get their hands on the book, and to see the first group of people leaving with their copies. After about 10 minutes we all realized just how long we'd be there, and then the doors opened. A woman ran out of the store screaming, fist pumping in the air in excitement as the crowd cheered. The woman coming out behind the first thrust her book proudly in the air flaunting it to everyone.
Many others quickly followed, beaming. Hold their books, posters, and audio books tight in their happy little fists.
Being that we were 600 people back in line, we had a while to wait. I decided to check out how many other people were still in line outside eagerly awaiting their wristbands and books. I must admit, I was a little shocked. The Borders we went to is in a typical suburbs shopping center with several large stores all next to each other. The line up at this particular one is Borders-JoAnn's-Circuit City. When we had entered the line it was backed up to the doors to enter the JoAnn's, at 12:30a when I wandered off to check, it was backed up to the doors of the Circuit City with people still steadily walking up.
After hours of waiting it was finally our turn. I believe we entered the store around 1:45a, but we still had to deal with the long line snaked throughout the store.
They were passing out the book in the very back of the store and snaking people through the racks to get back to the front to pay. Which, if you think about it is genius! You are practically forced to look at all those books, CDs, and movies. I know Partly ended up with a few extras. Again, you could feel the excitement heighten with the book window in sight.
YAY, MAMA CLOUDY!
I was astonished at the massive noise difference of both sides of the store. Upon entering it was loud, people were obnoxious BUT on the other side of the book counter you could hear a pin drop. I think Mama Cloudy got through the first 3 chapters while waiting in line to pay.
As amazing as the whole experience was, I was so glad when we finally got to go home. I sure was one tired little fetus.
Last week I headed up to Philadelphia with Partly Cloudy to drop off some Fort Cloudy goodies at the Curiosity Shoppe. The CS is part vintage clothing/book store, part local art boutique right off South St. We discovered it last November while on a trip to Philly for a Big Art Show, and they've been selling FC wears since the January rotation! If you ever get a chance to check it out, do it! Its really a fantastic shop.
The menu was scrumptious, period, but they completely won me over when I happened to see Purple Smashed Potatoes on the list. Yes, yes.. its odd, but there is nothing like a yummy, yummy starch with food coloring in it. Mmmmmmmmm, the way to a fetus's heart.
