But those who swarmed to the Regent Theatre for the clearout $1 book sale yesterday saw them as a feast for their imagination.
Book sale volunteer Carol Melville said there were still, "quite literally", hundreds of cartons of books that never made it out of storage for the Regent Red Setting Book Sale, held at the theatre last month.
So another sale was being held to "clear the decks" of the remaining books, DVDs, CDs, records, toys, comics and magazines.
"It’s been going very well. The people of Dunedin and Otago have supported us very well.
"We had a queue outside this morning — just like the good old days — and there’s been a constant stream of people coming through, throughout the day."
She said the sale would continue throughout today and there were still plenty of books to put out.
It was hoped all of the remaining material would be sold by the end of today.
Money raised from the sale would be added to that already collected from this year’s previous book sale, to fund operations at the Regent Theatre.
