Sun.Star Cebu

Book buffet, anyone? Big Bad Wolf shopping tips

- CHELZEE G. SALERA / Writer VERONIKA HIPOLITO / Illustrato­r

With every passing day, Cebuanos eagerly await the wolf’s arrival. Wait. What are we talking about here exactly? Just the biggest and baddest book sale ever to happen in the country: Big Bad Wolf. The world’s biggest book sale is finally coming to Cebu and will change the book sale experience for everyone. The book sale will be at the IC3 Convention Center, Cebu City from July 13 to 23. Don’t be caught unprepared like the little piggies in the story. Here are some tips on how to prepare for the coming of Big Bad Wolf.

SUIT UP

Here’s the deal. Preparing for this big book sale can be likened to preparing for the apocalypse—you have to find the titles you want before somebody else beats you to it! So this is no time to be fancy. It’s time to be effective and efficient. Suit up to be comfortabl­e so that going around for hours wouldn’t be such a daunting task to do. A comfortabl­e shirt with the ever-reliable jeans and rubber shoes will do miracles. Tie the hair too! A minor hair problem can’t bother one on this big day.

GEAR UP

To get the most experience from this once-in-a-lifetime event, it’s best to find all the possible titles you have been looking for because after all, how can you not find anything in a bunch of like a million books? Bring home as many books as you can with a trusty suitcase. Yes. A suitcase will take one further than a flimsy bag. A suitcase will be eco-friendly and better because it will be more convenient as it comes with wheels. Imagine lugging a huge bag with books on your back? That’s not very comfortabl­e.

SCOUT THE LOCATION

People are going to battle. The titles are within reach and one will only have to find them. With an area as huge as the IC3 Convention Center, scouting the area is as important as creating a strategy for war. To begin with, the event space has a floor area of 18,000 square meters and can seat 7,000 to 9,000 people. This is not an exaggerati­on: One million books will occupy this space and one will have to go around the area first to see what they want to buy. Grabbing the books as soon as one lays his eyes on them will be too greedy and premature because in the end, one might end up with more books than what his budget allows. So before everything else, go around and see what’s in store. After all, we don’t want to leave books lying around out of place simply because you changed your mind. We want other people to have the opportunit­y to find these wonderful books too. If it so happens that you don’t want to buy it anymore, then “put that thing back where it came from or so help me!”—a friendly reminder from Mike Wazowski.

PLAN YOUR TIME

It’s often best to visit at dawn. Around 1 or 2 a.m. can do the trick since most people are asleep during these times, thus a lesser crowd. Plus, it’s not too hot so it will feel fine once you come out of the pavilion lugging the books you bought. The downside is if like you, other people have read this article too, then more people will be there at this time. So figure the time that fewer people arrive. It can help too if you want to shop more comfortabl­y.

Hope this short list can help you in your quest for the books you’ve been dying to buy. You have 11 days to shop. The book sale is entrance free and open 24/7.

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