The Bookseller.com

17th May 2008

Guinness runs dry five weeks early

22.11.07 Graeme Neill

The race for Christmas number one could be blown wide open with news that Guinness World Records 2008 is on the verge of selling out. Both Bertrams' and Gardners' websites show the book as out of stock, and Guinness has confirmed it will not reprint the title, which has sold 313,052 copies to 17th November through Nielsen BookScan.

Nadine Causey, sales director at Guinness World Records, said: "We do not have any unallocated stock and will not be reprinting as we cannot do this and still ensure the complete and timely sell through." Causey added that more than one million copies were printed prior to the title's launch in September. "The print run was fully allocated. . . with over 65% going to customers in the UK," she said.

"There's clearly an issue," one retailer said. "It looks like stock will be tight in the weeks running up to Christmas." The book has been pushed across the retail spectrum with Tesco introducing special dump bins in more than 500 stores.

Bertrams is understood to have tried unsuccessfully to source stock earlier this week, while Gardners senior buying manager Phil Edwards said the book was in short supply but that Gardners has a "four figure sum in stock".

Retailers have privately voiced concerns that the book may not be a fixture in the crucial Christmas trading weeks, but Waterstone's moved to reassure customers that it still has comfortable stock levels. "It's definitely performing better than last year both for us and for the entire market," said non-fiction buyer Fiona Kennedy,  "but we have plenty of stock in all of our stores." The book has blazed a trail in the market since it was released on 28th September, selling 60,093 copies last week.

Book Retail Graeme Neill Guinness World Records

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