Big Bad Wolf organizer still bullish on sales

MANILA, Philippines — The World’s biggest book sale, Big Bad Wolf, hopes to at least match last year’s performance even as it expects concerns on the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to affect the number of visitors of the event.

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale co-founder Jacqueline Ng said in an interview yesterday while the expectation is for sales and visitor numbers to grow every year, she would be happy to achieve the same sales and visitor numbers for this year’s event as last year’s amid concerns on COVID-19.

She said sales from the 2019 edition of Big Bad Wolf in Manila reached over one million books, while there were 300,000 visitors.

“It’s a general concern and we cannot deny the fact it is going to have an impact on people coming,” she said.

This year’s Big Bad Wolf is being held from today (Feb.14) until Feb.24, at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

Admission to the event is free and the book sale would be open for 24 hours.

During the book sale, visitors can get books across different genres including fiction, non-fiction, young adult fiction, as well as children’s books at a 50 to 90 percent discount.

Two million books are being made available at the event, with prices as low as P60.

While there was a proposal to cancel Big Bad Wolf in Manila due to COVID-19, Ng said they decided to still push through with the event as there were no other available dates to hold it this year.

 “Naturally, lesser customers come, then the number of transaction will drop, number of books will drop. But we didn’t prepare for a smaller sale. We pushed through with what we planned,” she said.

With the decision to proceed with the event, she said Big Bad Wolf is taking precautionary health measures for the safety of visitors and to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 which has common symptoms of cough and fever, but could lead to pneumonia in more severe cases.

As part of the health precautionary measures to be implemented during the Big Bad Wolf book sale, all visitors and employees would be screened by the medical team with infrared thermometers before entry. Those with high temperatures will not be allowed to go to the sale.

Hand sanitizers are also available at the entrance, customer service counter and exit.

Employees are required to wear protective masks and to regularly sanitize their hands.

Visitors, meanwhile, are encouraged to wear protective face masks.

This year mark the third time Big Bad Wolf is being held in Manila.

The sale which specializes in providing the widest selection of books at the lowest price possible, was first held in Malaysia in 2009.

Through Big Bad Wolf, the aim is to encourage more people to read and to dream.

Apart from Malaysia and the Philippines, Big Bad Wolf has also been held in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, South Korea, Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates and Cambodia.