Friday, December 14, 2012

BIG BAD WOLF 2012 HAUL - *Awoooooo

I'm heavily, heavily pregnant n yet masalah mengidam buku has been for quite sometimes since BBW announced their sales date sometimes in July this year. I've been to BBW sales for the past 3 years and never quit since. In fact my budget for books and alike will go to once a year BBW sales only... it's all so worth it :)) I'll have some 'wish list' prepared but sometimes not all da titles are available but at least I already have something in mind and to certain extend planned my spending (well, 80% planned la.. but some buffer for impulse buying hehee) and since I'm entitled for a preview pass to BBW 2012, how could I miss this once in a lifetime opportunity? It's my first preview ever and hopefully would not be my last one too.

After getting days of eat and sleep routines (I need a lottttt of rest since my baby is wayyy too small and he measured couple of weeks behind according to my gynea) I need to move around as well and get some healthy walk especially when my due is gonna be very soon. After getting a good friend of mine to accompany and Danial tagged along to help me pull the trolley, we were off to the preview day.  

Danial's happy face.. his 1st time to BBW
Lt. Black Paw ride.. he's sooo cool ritee
nice plate no. :))
Apparently they have this launching earlier that day where the theme was superheroes cos' we could see characters like Batman and Wonder Woman when we were there. Well, the fact I always went to BBW for at least 3 times throughout their sales.. so same goes this year.. I didn't get all books at one visit, but only to cover small section at a time and later came again to for more quality search. To rummage through all 3,000,000 books in a day can be tiresome and you couldn't find what u really want after 2-3 hours top! Believe me, been there done that (in fact last years' books were lesser).  Plus, I have an 'extra' baggage to carry around with me (my bulging tummy of course) I shld not be pushing myself hard and to have frequent breaks in between from walking and know when to stop. I am very lucky indeed this year cos' I got mostly the books that I need... in fact after few years of visiting BBW, my selection this year wasn't that many and some were just carried forward from last year's 'wish list' that I didn't managed to get from BBW. 

cloth books for my baby.. got this during preview day
some of Danial's comics.. no more SpongeBob or Toy Story for him.. he wanted these instead.. anak Mama dah besar!
my most valuable treasures! been wanting these since last year... i still couldn't believed I got this during my 3rd visits after  going through from one table to another. Worth the effort :))

Another from 2011 wish list - Wally Lamb .. saw only few books during 2nd visit
love, love Jane Green.. managed to get 3 titles this time round (including Promises To Keep which is not in pic).. already have Jemima J, To Have n To Hold, Mr Maybe, Straight Talking, Babyville, Dune Road and Beach House - all from previous BBW
after Sparkles, decided to try out few others of Bagshawe's books
i need Safe Haven sooo bad.. didn't get one earlier, and so lucky BBW restock these RD's Select Editions during my 2nd visit.. see the last title?? n only RM10 for 4 titles! so satisfied...
these one kirim from my friend after having a second thought to get the more Select Editions 
these are for Baby Ayra - my brother's daughter .. got these during my 3rd visit

Lauren Weisberger title is Last Night at Chateau Marmont.. x nampak plak title dia..
great sets! couldn't resist the Gossip Girl (although I'm too old for that hahaha)  and see those ring binding books on top?? those are notebooks.. they are super cute and pretty too
they have a lotss of designs but I really like this one.. and it's only selling for RM2 each!!!
There is another one not in picture i.e The Lucky Ones (Nicholas Sparks). I didn't get any non-fiction this time around cos' I don't need anything specific. But I still couldn't find Too Dark No Star (Stephen King) since the preview day and kinda hoping to see lots of Jodi Picoult's but there wasn't any :( and only realized that today they announced on new available titles - Diary of Wimpy Kids series!!! these are in fact in my 'wish list' for 2012... am not sure how many stocks do they have cos' been reading comments in fb that many people couldn't find those books.

Anyway, for those who still haven't gone to BBW 2012, the sales are still on-going until 23 December 2012. Check out their website and fb for daily updates. My personal view is that, compared to last year, there are a lot of downside in this year's event: 

  • Venue - last year was MAEPS and this year is MIECC. Traffic is heavier and getting in and out of MIECC is not easy... especially in the afternoon, after office hour and even weekend cos' it's just next to Mines Shopping Center where the crowds are always there. I remember during last year's visits getting in and out from MAEPS were so easy and no traffic at all!
  • Paid parking but not so great car park facility - although it's only RM2 during weekdays and RM3 during weekends, but last year in MAEPS it was free and the parking space are huge. Not to mention that the elevator at the basement carpark is slow and sometimes only 1 out of 2 elevator is working (we have to queue for lifts everytime..).
  • Cashiers are too near to the books sections - compared to MAEPS, the layout this year has the cashiers too close to the books sections and without the snake line queue being implemented, there were times when the payment queue was too long up to the books sections. Noted that during last week Mission 63 (the 63 hours non-stop book shopping period) my friend has to queue for 2 hours from 2-4am to make payment... kesian kan...
But apart from that, BBW has done a great job by having the event this year and the staff are always helpful and friendly. It's a great thing that they have the non-stop shopping hours during weekends (they having it again today, this weekend at this exact moment) and I just hope that they learn from Mission 63 drawbacks/experience and make it better this time around. BBW mmg terbaekkkk lah!

So if you guys are thinking of going down to hunt some good books at real bargain, below are few tips:

  • Wear comfortable shoes.. u'll be walking a lot!
  • Bring your own trolley/cart/luggage bag/shopping bag (big enough for you to carry around and plenty of it) cos' it realllyyyy helps to load on the books and to carry it around the place. They do provides boxes, but it's not easy to carry it around especially when u have loaded it with books. And once you have too much books in hand but still cannot get enough, transit those hauls to the customer service counter where they will keep it for you while u go for another hunt... toksah la dok heret kotak berat2 tu ke sana sini, it's tiring and u'll be bumping on other people too which can be dangerous.
  • Bring a drinking water, it really helps although they do provides place to eat with plenty of choice on the upper floor which is another plus point this year :) kudos BBW!
  • If you going to bring your baby, the best is to use baby carrier although u can bring in stroller... but wit lots of people around, carrying books there is a risk that the books can fell onto the stroller... better be safe. You could also transit ur kids to the playland area that is provided at the upper floor (again, another plus point!) But better still, leave your kids behind... I never think warehouse sales are good place to bring toddlers.

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