Chicago bookstore owner criticizes customer who bought $800 books for his home stage, then returned them

The co-owner of an independent bookstore in Chicago has shared her frustration online after a customer decided to return $800 worth of books she had bought to decorate her home for the holidays.

Rebecca George, who runs Volumes Bookcafe, took to Twitter to vent her frustration after a customer decided to treat her shop more like a library and brought in all the pricey art and cookbooks she’d bought a month earlier.

The buyer only used the books temporarily as accessories and decorations in their home during the holidays, when they had friends and family over.

George’s post saw her express her disappointment and urged customers not to behave that way, particularly when it comes to small businesses.

Rebecca George’s tweet has been viewed millions of times

‘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.

Since then, the tweet has gone viral with nearly 7 million views.

George also noted how the sale amounted to almost a third of his store’s monthly rent.

‘Wow, this person came in and bought all these art books! What a great day,’ said George as he thought at the time of the bumper sale. We needed it at that time.

The Volumes bookstore opened in September thanks to loans from community members

It turns out that the buyer had bought the books in December just to use them as temporary decorations and party supplies, then returned them once they were done.

Many people responded by offering support and suggesting ways to avoid another similar situation.

Many users expressed their support for the bookstore and suggested ways to avoid similar occurrences in the future, i.e. a change in their return policy, such as adding a restocking fee to minimize the inconvenience of customer returns.

Due to the pandemic, this past fall was difficult for the bookstore and they thanked the 25 local community members who pitched in with loans to help them purchase a new location that opened last September.

George also pointed out how book returns were extremely rare, accounting for about 1 percent of all transactions, usually because someone had a duplicate.

‘They could have obtained the books in a different way if that was the case. They could have gotten used books or books from the library,” George told fox 32. “I don’t think people realize it, in small companies it’s a big problem.”

Some supporters asked where they could shop online or send donations to support the bookstore.

George noted how the sale amounted to almost a third of his store’s monthly rent after the big sale.

Independent bookstores often have slim profit margins and face competition from larger retail stores, making every decision and purchase crucial to their survival.

“Even after opening, we were still paying electricians and plumbers and everything needed to open, plus paying a mortgage,” George added.. “The fall was hard. We knew we just needed to get through the holidays and then we would feel more secure.’

Other bookstore workers even weighed in, acknowledging the struggles small business owners face.

George, 42, then took to Twitter to thank the people who had supported his bookstore and confirmed that the returned purchase was $800, which was one-third of the bookstore’s monthly rent.

She confirmed that the bookstore has since been receiving a lot of orders from all over the United States as a result of her tweet.

Ultimately, the customer decided to return their loot a few days after the 30-day return policy passed, and the customer agreed to accept a store credit.

That means George didn’t ultimately lose any cash as a result of the selfish buy-and-return.

George, 42, then took to Twitter to thank the people who have supported his store.