"I love country music and like to buy older illustrated books... I also come to the sale because you never know what else you'll find. We wouldn't miss it," she said.
Another regular salegoer was Nel Burles from Judea, who came armed with her list of authors and books she was looking for while trawling through the display tables.
Loaded up with books, magazines and several jigsaw puzzles, a delighted Burles said
most of the puzzles were brand new and cost $4 to $5 each.
"They would be $25 to $30 each in a retail store, so I definitely got some bargains."
Tauranga Rotary Club book sale convenor Ann Pritchard said club members and volunteers had spent five-and-half weeks sorting all the items for sale and pricing them.
This included sorting the fiction book alphabetically under authors and the non-fiction titles into all various categories, Pritchard said
"It's always a mammoth task but it makes it far easier for people when they are looking for a particular author or want to buy certain genre of books."
Pritchard said there were quite a few bargain hunters and dealers including from Hamilton and Auckland lined up on Friday night two hours before the doors open.
"Hopefully, that's a good sign we are going to have a great sale and raise lots of money, but we won't know the total raised for a few days," she said.
The sale is the main yearly fundraiser for the club with all proceeds going to charities and good causes, including Waipuna Hospice and Tauranga Community Foodbank.
The funds also help support International charities and emergency disaster relief efforts.
