Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II: A Message from Our CEO, Benjamin Trisk

At no time since Exclusive Books opened its stores in 1951, 65 years ago, have any of our stores stayed open through the night for the launch of a new book. This weekend things will be different. The extraordinary public demand for the 8th in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II, has caused a sea-change in our opening hours for this one event. We will open for trade, as normal on Saturday morning. We will trade through Saturday to closing time. EXCEPT that in 7 of our stores, Hyde Park, Brooklyn, Gateway, Canal Walk, Loch Logan, Nelspruit and Walmer Park, we will remain open throughout Saturday night so that, from 1am onwards on Sunday morning, 31st July, our customers will be able to purchase their copies of the new episode in the Harry Potter saga. (Note that our Midnight Parties are only open to those who RSVPed and received their Official Invitations.) This will be a worldwide event. The opening of the boxes in which the Harry Potter books come from the Publisher abroad will coincide with the opening of boxes in Auckland, in Tokyo, in Beijing, in Paris, in London, in New York, in Los Angeles and wherever else bookshops exist.

To celebrate this major literary event, our 7 stores mentioned above will trade through the night (for Official Invitation holders only) and they will continue to trade all through Sunday so that they will be open without cease from Saturday morning until their normal closing times on Sunday night.

Moreover, for all our customers who are not able to attend launch parties at the 7 stores mentioned, all other stores will open their doors on Sunday morning at 6am so that the thousands and thousands of Harry Potter fans in South Africa will be able to buy their copy of the new book.

We anticipate that thousands of loyal Exclusive Books customers will attend our parties, and that many more will be waiting for our doors to open at 6 o’clock on Sunday morning. I should add that there has been an enormous amount of planning for this event and the logistics, as you might imagine are, to say the least, challenging. We hope that our efforts will result in a great customer experience and that everyone will have a good time for what is, after all, a unique literary event. Please note, for those of you who will be going to our Hyde Park store for the party, that our wonderful restaurant in the Exclusive shop at Hyde Park, The Social Kitchen & Bar, will be open through the night serving a limited menu. The bar will be a full bar.

Please note, too, that part of our determination to provide a fulfilling consumer experience is that we are retailing the book for R299 – a 20% reduction on the recommended sale price.

– Benjamin Trisk, CEO