Regent sale bargain hunters play it by the book
A DUNEDIN woman surfaced from the rolling maul at the start of the Star Regent 24Hour Book Sale with five books about rugby.
A countdown from 5 to 1 played from television show Thunderbirds before the doors at Regent Theatre opened at noon yesterday.
A pack of book buyers with big bags walked at speed down an aisle before running across the stage, past the cheaper books, to scamper down the stairs and get a first look at the collectable books in the basement.
Dunedin band 2Hoots played All Day and All of the Night by The Kinks, as a man dragging a suitcase stumbled on the stairs on his way to the stage.
Darlene McLay, of Dunedin, said she went to the sale without a game plan but found herself on the stage, in the rugby section and secured five books for $5 for her partner Bryan Hansen.
She managed to keep her feet in the melee.
‘‘There was heaps of people but there was no pushing and shoving,’’ she said.
Lisa Gurr, of Dunedin, bought 30 children’s books for $3 for her children Isabella (9) and Beauden (2).
The sale was a ‘‘busy scramble’ but the price of the books was ‘‘so good’’.
Sale convener Alison Cunningham said the first two hours of the sale were ‘‘complete bedlam’’.
The sale was ‘‘busy and steady’’ in the afternoon.