Little children tearing pages out of pop-up books before putting them back on the shelf. Not-so-savvy customers who buy books, read them, and then return them, just like in a library.
Rebecca George has grown used to such irritations as co-owner of Volumes Bookcafe, an independent bookstore with stores in Wicker Park and downtown.
But that didn’t prompt George, 42, to post a complaint on Twitter, a tweet that had generated 5.3 million views as of Tuesday night.
She started writing after a customer spent about $800 on art books in the crucial holiday shopping season and then this week said she wanted to return them all.
“It turns out that one of our biggest sales last month was the person who organized their house for the holidays and now they want to return them all. Please don’t do this to a small business people. ….” George tweeted on Monday.
It turns out that one of our biggest sales last month was the person who organized their house for the holidays and now they want to return them all.
Please don’t do this to a small business people. That sale was a third of our rent.
— Rebecca George (@rebecgeo) January 9, 2023
Margins in the world of independent bookstores are “very slim,” George said. Predicting what people might want to buy is often a high-stakes guessing game, he said.
George and his sister, Kimberly, recently moved their Wicker Park store to a new location in the same neighborhood, which opened last September. She said they were grateful that 25 local community members helped with loans to purchase the space.
“Even after opening, we were still paying electricians and plumbers and everything to open, plus paying a mortgage,” George said. “The fall was hard. We knew we just needed to get through the holidays and then we would feel more secure.”
The pandemic lockdown didn’t help business either, he said.
The woman’s purchase in early December at the downtown branch was big enough to get the staff excited.
“Wow, this person came in and bought all these art books! What a great day,” George remembered thinking. “We needed it at the time.”
George said a member of his staff received a call from the book buyer on Monday. The client said that he wanted to return all the books. Book returns are rare: about 1% of sales, George said. Usually, it’s someone who might have received two copies of the same book as a gift, he said.
George said she’s not entirely sure what “stage performance” the woman wanted the books for.
“They could have obtained the books in another way if that was the case. They could have gotten used books or books from the library,” George said.
Here’s a sample of what some Twitter users had to say:
“This is such a gross thing anyway, but absolutely never do that to a small business,” @TareUhhhhhh wrote.
“Please tell me why the hell do people ‘stage their houses’ for the holidays?” wrote @minimoogles.
“This year I don’t care what you get me but I want my birthday present from here please,” @Uh_huh_honey wrote.
Unfortunately for the customer, he called a few days after the 30-day return period expired. After “a lot of negotiation,” the bookstore and the customer agreed to a store credit, George said.
On the plus side, George said, “We’ve gotten tons and tons of orders overnight from all over the US, and we’re so thankful for that.”
George said she’s sure it’s the result of her tweet.
“For the most part, our clients are amazing,” he said.
Source: news.google.com