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Booksellers get behind Potter launch

18.07.07 Graeme Neill

Thousands of shops across the UK are gearing up for publication of the final Harry Potter novel this Friday at midnight, with competition to hold the most eye-catching event seeing castles rented, speed readers on hand and Death Eating morris dancers hired to entertain queuing fans.

Waterstone's flagship event will see its Piccadilly branch transformed into the Hogwarts dining hall. The store is preparing to host more than 2,000 fans with a special podcasting event held by Potter fansite MuggleNet.

Waterstone's will open 279 of its stores at midnight, with a wide range of magical events on offer. The Sheffield branch will host a troupe of morris dancers dressed as Death Eaters entertaining the queue. "We are all huge Harry Potter fans and hatched the plan over a couple of pints in the pub," said morris dancer Bob Sochon. Edinburgh's Princes Street branch will be the venue of a performance of "Potted Potter", a parody that sets out to tell the story of all six books in sixty minutes.

More than 400 branches of W H Smith will open at midnight, with the Kingston Upon Thames branch declared the pottiest Smiths shop for achieving the most preorders. Smiths stores will be opened by those fans judged to be wearing the best Potter-related fancy dress.

Borders will open all 72 stores at midnight, and six-times world speed reading champion Anne Jones, who can read up to 4,000 words per minute, aims to read the book within one hour in Borders' Charing Cross Road Branch. Supermarkets are also feeling the Potter magic, with Asda opening 250 stores at midnight and providing "Can't Wait Corners" for those readers without the patience to wait until they get home. Sainsbury's will be opening 60 stores at midnight across the country, with Tesco selling the book in 550 branches from midnight.

Among the pick of the hundreds of independent bookshop events on offer across the UK is Colchester's Red Lion Books' transformation of the town's castle into its own version of Hogwarts. As mist pours from the moat, two hundred children will be divided into the different Hogwarts houses, taken around a maze, given a broomstick handling course and enter the castle's dungeon.

"We have always had a party but because this is the last one we thought we would go for it," said Sarah Donaldson, the shop's co-owner. "There's no point in getting gloomy about supermarkets or other shops discounting. We are very upbeat because we are going to have a great time."

West End Lane Books in West Hampstead will be handing out prizes for the best dressed wizards. The shop is also hosting a quiz before midnight to find out who knows their Hedwigs from their Hagrids.

Retail W H Smith waterstone's harry potter Bloomsbury Borders Graeme Neill

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