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Woolies jumps gun on Harry Potter

02.02.07 | Katherine Rushton

Woolworths has been promising customers it will have stocks of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on 1st September, even though Bloomsbury has not yet announced the release date.

In The Bookseller's straw poll of 10 Woolworths stores across the country, five shops said the book would be out in September. Woolworths blamed the mistake on a "system error" and promised to rectify the issue. "We had to put a date on the order system otherwise it wouldn't work. There was a disclaimer saying we didn't know when the book was going to be published, but some staff ignored this," spokesman Daniel Himsworth said.

The Hoddesdon branch of Woolworths had ads in the window inviting pre-orders. Alan Jeffery, owner of nearby independent Books@Hoddesdon, said the posters caused confusion among his customers. "It seems extraordinary that a major chain should make this mistake." Bloomsbury stressed it had not given any early information to the retailer. "Nobody has any heads up. Everyone will be told at the same time," said marketing director Minna Fry. Current speculation on mugglenet.com and other blogs tips 7th July as the most likely release date.

• harry potter
• Katherine Rushton
• woolies