Book retailers see sales magic with Harry Potter

ANN ARBOR, Mich. and NEW YORK Borders Group announced Sunday that its more than 1,200 Borders and Waldenbooks stores around the globe sold approximately 1.2 million copies of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on its first day of sales, Saturday, July 21. According to the company, this is the highest single-day sales of any title ever in Borders history. This first-day sales total for book seven -- the final book in the Harry Potter series -- compares to 850,000 copies sold worldwide by Borders of book six, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," its first day of sales in 2005.

Barnes & Noble Inc. also saw strong sales of the latest Harry Potter installment, selling a record 1.8 million copies in the first 48 hours of its release at its retail stores and on Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com). In the first hour, Barnes & Noble bookstores sold 560,000 copies or 156 copies per second. According to the company, sales for the first 48 hours of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were 38% greater than sales of Rowling's previous book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."