On July 15 at 11 p.m., a rewarding wedge of moon, obscured slightly by clouds, gave a fitting sheen to the parking lot connecting the strip malls at Stephanie and Sunset. Usually, this late in the evening, the parking spaces would be mostly empty; but that is certainly not the case on this night. It is an hour before Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince goes on sale, and on the Sunset side of this lot is a Borders, and on the Stephanie side, a Barnes & Noble. Both stores are packed with teenagers, children and parents. Despite the experience of life in this hype-monster place where residents are exposed—weekly, daily, hourly—to some marketer's attempt to make buzz, the Las Vegas Valley proved no more immune to Pottermania than Anywhere Else, USA.
At another Barnes
But, in the end, the degree of festivities didn't matter much. In fact, if only in this, the much- praised marketing machine for the Harry Potter books was off a beat in that the games and swag seemed geared to entertain a typical 9-year-old. But while Potter fandom may once have been exclusively young children, this time, gathered in the bookstore for the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, there were at least as many teenagers anxious to spend Friday night awaiting the book in the series they have followed since they were little kids.
The Potter phenomenon is so widespread now that some teens even used the book release as an excuse to get the usual curfew lifted. Thirty minutes before the book went on sale, Greg and Audrey, 16, students at Green Valley High, could not seem less focused on rushing into the bookstore. Hanging with three friends, the two cuddle together in the back of a white pickup truck.
Both admit they are not big readers and neither is anxious to get started on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. "I haven't even read the other ones," says Audrey. Then she reconsiders: "No wait. I read the first and second, I think. I can't remember. I think I read the first one."
In short, both Audrey and Greg admit that they are here only because their parents are thrilled that they want to read a book and so have allowed them out past midnight to get it. It may be a ruse, still, they aren't dumb, and know better than to come home empty- handed. Both Audrey and Greg have reserved books.
According to one harried employee sorting through reservation cards inside Barnes & Noble, over 1,100 people preordered so that they would have a copy of the book available for them in this store at midnight. And so behind the counter, boxes and boxes labeled "Harry Potter" are stacked like cordwood. At Borders and Barnes & Noble, employees were scheduled until 3 a.m. Neither store was sure that copies would even be available for people who just showed up at midnight hoping to buy Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince. When Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released in 2003—despite all the hype and both chain's full awareness of Potter's blockbuster status—both of these stores in Henderson ran out of books in the initial onslaught and had to tell people they were sold out while awaiting reinforcements. This time, though, there were better plans in place and come morning, both stores still had plenty of books available for walk-in customers.
Actually, Barnes & Noble, in a final Potter marketing flourish, thought to open at 8 a.m. instead of the usual 9 a.m. on Saturday. This gave the store a full hour monopoly as the sole purveyors of Potter in the parking lot at Stephanie and Sunset, as rival Borders sat closed. Striding into Barnes & Noble at 8:30 a.m., it was possible to grab a copy of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince out of a pile on display directly in front of the main entrance and, without stopping—there was no line—go directly to the cashier to pay. Instead of getting one wristband in the relaxed morning atmosphere, the cashier hands out two, and is asked: "So, is this the first one of these you've sold?"
"We sold some this morning already, and last night it was crazy," she says.
"I bet," says the customer, smiling because he is happy to have decided, unlike all the children and teenagers, to just come back in the morning to not only avoid the line but be well-rested enough to get started reading Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince right away.
Yes, there is a certain wisdom that comes with age, he thinks.