NBS Warehouse Sale 2015

The grand daddy of all bookstores is currently having its warehouse sale extravaganza. The National Bookstore Warehouse Sale been going on since yesterday and will push on until the 18th. With hardly any sleep at all, I decided to brave the heat and took my chances on scoring some goods.

This. Is. Quezon Avenueeee!!!!

Knowing that the sale would start at 9:00 am, I arrived at 8:00 am and grabbed some breakfast at a Jollibee located at the same building. There was a line outside already when I arrived, but I honestly thought that it was just for people waiting to go inside the mall. There were just a few people that time, maybe around 10 waiting by the main mall entrance. Thinking nothing of it, I sat down and had my meal. 20 minutes later, I got the biggest shock when I peered through the window. The 10-person line multiplied by 3 or 4 and had managed to snake around the building in 20 minutes. I hurriedly ran out to take my spot in cue.

When 9:00 struck, everyone rushed inside the mall. It got a little crazy. The escalators weren't even turned on yet, but the NBS staff was professional and gave us directions on where to go because the sale was located on the 4th floor. Luckily, I was one of the first few people that got in. The security guards were cautious about our safety and herded us in rounds of 10 so it wouldn't get crowded easily. It was also an extra precaution for the escalators because of that China incident a few weeks back.

As soon as I got in, I grabbed a basket and went through the first shelves I saw on the side. By this time, the carts with wheels were all taken. Despite the small aisles, all of the items were categorized neatly in their own piles according to price. There were books that were labelled Php 1000, 500, 300, 100, 50, and 30 below. I went through the front shelves as quickly as I could before going into the main aisles where most of the people were at already. It was also because of this haste that I only managed to get in one picture. The one posted above was the only photo I took and I shot it the second I got off the escalator. The adrenaline gets intense when you step into the warehouse and see people rushing through what seems like endless shelves of books.

After 2 and a half hours, here was my final haul:

I think I got most of what I wanted that day.

Clockwise: 

• A weird paperbag my dad got for no reason other than it was on sale - Php 10
• 40-page sticky page photo album (they were all wedding-themed, so I'm just going to cover it up to use as an album for my Spain trip) -  Php 100 from Php 450
• Digital Brushes Sourcebook -  Php 50 from Php 1000
• Complete Conditioning for Football (lol) -  Php 30 from Php 1245
• Bag tags (set of 3) -  Php 20 per set x 3 =  Php 60 from Php 16.50 each
• Jay-Z The King of America -  Php 100 from Php 1295
• Solar Calculator -  Php 90 from Php 289
• Training Your Superdog -  Php 50 from Php 420
• Credit Card-Sized Folding Safety Knife -  Php 80 from Php 168
• Belkin USB Port -  Php 70
• Adventure Time BMO's Day Out -  Php 80 from Php 99

That's 19 items for a whopping total of just Php 720! I saved Php 4395! I actually saved a lot more, but I didn't know how much the Belkin USB Port originally cost.

The book came with a free DVD!

But this was missing its CD :(((((

What's great about the sale is that they carry more than just books. If I wasn't so busy fixated on all the reading material, I could've gotten more loot! At the corner of the warehouse were piles of Christmas decorations. Tree decors in sets of 5's and 10's only went for Php 30 and Php 50! The actual Christmas Tree was on sale for only Php 800. I was so tempted to get a new tree. But I figured we didn't have the extra storage space at home, so I passed up the chance. They had a Halloween pile too, but that went out fast! There were ladies next to me who got 3 full boxes of school supplies. There were notebooks in bundles of 5 with sets of pens attached that I never found. Ipad and smartphone cases were all over the place. Not to mention folders, bags, pencil cases, and a lot of other random office supplies.

Before you venture off into the literary concrete jungle, here are a few tips that might come in handy:

1. The obvious: get there early. Long lines don't end at the entrance. Once you finally get your shopping bag filled, it'll be tasking for you to wait a couple of hours at the cashier. I've heard people wait in line a good 3 hours on the first day. It's best to get there in the morning when there are less people to battle it out with. The after office and school crowd will gather more in the afternoon.
2. Bring a buddy. I'm not going to lie. Once you get in there, you go straight into tunnel vision, browsing through all of the books immediately. You might not even have time to talk once the line starts moving and you get inside the warehouse. Once you settle in though, having a companion helps a lot. You guys can take turns with bathroom breaks when the other watches out for your bags. You can help each other out carrying your bags of loot after the sale. It's also a lot more fun to show each other's haul when you guys are done shopping around.
3. Bring an eco bag. There are red NBS-branded eco bags at the cashier. Those aren't exactly free. Save yourself the extra Php 15 by bringing your own bag.
4. Wear comfy clothing. It's a warehouse filled with a lot of people. The air-conditioning doesn't cut it. There are big fans the the end of the room, but other than that, it can turn into a sauna fast. Wear clothing that you can bend around in. The books go from top to bottom, so scoring that gem you've been yearning for might just need a little more searching at the bottom shelves.
5. Enjoy and reward yourself with a nice cold bath after your shopping trip. The books can get dusty because they're mixed stocks of just about every genre there is. Some are brand new novels, while some are old textbooks pulled out from stockrooms. Get in there and don't be afraid to get dirty. Some of the best books are just waiting to be found.

And with that, we conclude this year's NBS Warehouse Sale. I think it's pretty obvious that I'm already excited for the next one. I love a good deal, and this trip was well worth the wait, sweat, and dust. I hope there are more fictional books out next year though. I missed out on the Chuck Palahniuk books, and Bossypants by Tina Fey. Those two were actually my main goals, but I guess they ran out the first day. Maybe next year, I'll stock up on graphic novels and box sets. There were a few (less than 15) that I found that ranged from The X-Men to Spider-man to Sin City. Here's to hoping for a bigger selection next year.

You have 4 days left to get your book binge on!

National Bookstore Warehouse
4th Floor National Book Store
Quezon Avenue cor. Sct. Borromeo and Panay Avenue