Sales of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix continued at a rapid pace in the first full week after the book's publication. The title's sales slipped during the week ending June 29, but that still meant Borders and Barnes & Noble combined to sell more than 966,000 copies of Phoenix. (See "Behind the Bestsellers," p. 16)
A spot check by PW of independent booksellers found Phoenix to be outselling all other titles by a wide margin. Thackeray's Books in Toledo, Ohio, had sold almost 1,600 copies of Phoenix by midweek. "I can't think of any book that has been bigger in sales for us—it's bigger than Harry Potter 4," said Denise Mollenkopf, inventory manager. Jill Bailey, children's department buyer at BookPeople in Austin, Tex., said, "Everything has exceeded our expectations with this book. We sold more copies of Harry 5 in the first three days than we sold in the lifetime of book 4."
Phoenix was also a hot item at the nation's largest retailer. According to a report on the Dow Jones newswire, Wal-Mart sold more than one million copies of Phoenix during the first week—with some of those sales going to booksellers. Wal-Mart, its Sam's Club subsidiary and Costco proved to be a vital source of supply for independent booksellers in the days immediately following the release of the book. PW received numerous reports from booksellers who said they had turned to the warehouse and price clubs to keep books in stock in the hectic days following the book's release. While experienced booksellers have been using the warehouse clubs to supplement inventory for quite a while, newer booksellers only learned of their value in connection with Phoenix.
"We became new Costco members when we realized that it was cheaper for us to get them [Phoenix copies] there than from the publisher," wrote one West Coast bookseller. "Now that I have been introduced to the world of price clubs, I'm considering doing my frontlist buying there; who knew the prices were so low! I mentioned this to one rep from a major house, but he didn't seem to share my enthusiasm."
Although one bookseller said he was "startled" that Costco was selling the book at 47.7% off list price while his discount from Scholastic was 46%, most booksellers seemed philosophical about the discounting discrepancies. One Midwest bookseller noted that she paid $2.17 less per copy buying additional copies at Wal-Mart than from Ingram, and saved shipping costs as well. "So much for fair discounts," she said. This bookseller's major complaint was that she was unable to get posters, bookmarks and other promotional materials from Scholastic. "It would be nice to be able to get some of that giveaway stuff. After all, who will be selling it [Phoenix] next year—not Costco or Wal-Mart. They will have moved on." She suggested that there should be a panel at the next BEA convention to discuss how independents can use the warehouse clubs to improve their bottom line. "I do it a lot, and there are other ways to get around the discount thing," she said.
