THE world’s biggest book sale, Big Bad Wolf, is finally in Cebu and is ready to huff, puff and blow the prices down on new books with varying titles that will change the book sale experience for everyone. Since entrance is free, enjoy 24 hours of non-stop shopping with one million brand new English books to discover. The book sale will be at the IC3 Convention Center, Cebu City from July 13 until July 23.
“The record-breaking book sale started in Malaysia in 2009. And since then, it has gone to many countries bringing millions of books, attracting millions of people. It is also about having non-stop shopping 24 hours for 10 days,” said Miguel Mercado, head of marketing of Big Bad Wolf Philippines.
The event is the brainchild of husband and wife Andrew Yap and Jacqueline Ng who founded BookXcess, a bookstore that specializes in excess stock from international distributors.
“In an aim to advocate English literacy, we are bringing a variety of books to Cebu across diverse genres including children’s books, literature, non-fiction, business books, biographies, cookbooks and more,” said Mercado.
“The mission is very important now especially that we’re entering the digital age: Everybody regardless of status has the right to learn. Cheap books aren’t necessarily poor quality or second-hand, and a warehouse sale needs to be comfortable as well so we do it not because we can but because we care. At the very beginning of all this is that we want to make reading available to everybody,” said Mercado.
Part of the proceeds from the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale will benefit programs by Gawad Kalinga (GK).
“Gawad Kalinga believes in empowerment. Books and reading allow us to reach our potentials. The presence of Big Bad Wolf gives all communities—not just GK’s, not just Cebu’s, but everywhere in the Visayas as well, the opportunities we otherwise would not have. We would like to thank Big Bad Wolf for coming to Cebu and for making GK its partner,” said Toby Florendo, Cebu provincial head of Gawad Kalinga.
That’s not all. Big Bad Wolf is giving away passes for the special preview of the sale on July 12 from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; the preview will be a day before it opens to the public. Readers will stand a chance to get their hands on 2,000 exclusive preview passes which will be good for two each. This means first dibs on all the titles! These lucky persons will be chosen through Big Bad Wolf’s social media pages.
For those who wish to drop by the book sale, here is a gentle reminder from the organizers: if you get a book during the sale and later on change your mind, please place it back on the shelf where it came from; otherwise, it becomes orphaned and it will no longer be found by those who actually want to give it a home. The books are replenished daily so it’s best to help the organizers keep the books where they are supposed to be.