Thousands of Dunedin people of all ages, including students and their parents, browsed tens of thousands of books, puzzles, games, art and bric-a-brac, all laid out in the Edgar Centre’s Breeze Arena on Friday and Saturday.
Most left with big smiles and bulging bags or arms laden with bargains.
The result was a spectacular success — this year’s Regent Theatre 24 Hour Book Sale brought in a record total of $134,111.
Regent Theatre 24 Hour Book Sale co-ordinator Kath Wallace was delighted with attendance and the outcome of the sale, attributing it to a couple of special factors this year.
"We held the sale a little bit earlier this year, which has coincided with the arrival of students in the city and university orientation," Mrs Wallace said.
"We were able to put 5000 book marks advertising the sale into the students welcome packs and that really seemed to work the students came out and a lot of them had their parents with them.
"The bric-a-brac section also did extremely well."
Mrs Wallace said the extra support from the city’s newest residents came on top of the superb generosity of Dunedin’s book-loving community, who came out year after year to support the sale.
"We really appreciate the support we get every year from the community, who give us so many books to us each year and then come out and buy them," she said.
The funds raised through this year’s Regent Theatre 24 Hour Book Sale will go towards building a removable ramp for the front of the Regent Theatre stage to allow easier access on to the stage.
