A Chicago bookstore owner has been receiving words of encouragement after sharing her frustration over a customer who allegedly returned an $800 purchase.
Rebecca George, co-owner of Volumes Bookcafe, an independent bookstore near Wicker Park, took to Twitter to air a return request she said she received from a customer who bought several art books and cookbooks in December to serve as temporary decorations. .
“Turns out one of our biggest sales last month was the person getting their house ready for the holidays and now they want to return them all,” George wrote in his tweet on Monday, January 9.
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“Please don’t do this to a small business people,” he continued. “That sale was a third of our rent.”
Since then, George’s Twitter post has been viewed 6.8 million times and has garnered more than 85,600 likes, 5,510 retweets, and 880 comments.
Fox News Digital has contacted Volumes Bookcafe for comment.
Twitter users have responded to George’s post asking where they can make online book purchases or donations to support the independent store.
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Bookstore workers joined George’s thread in recognizing the challenges shared by the small specialty business.
Volumes Bookcafe in Chicago is an independent bookstore owned by Rebecca and Kimberly George.
(FOX 32 Chicago)
“Being an independent bookstore is hard,” Madison Street Books, another Chicago-based bookstore, tweeted on Wednesday, January 11.
A Twitter user who claims to be a bookstore employee wrote that the company he works for has a no-return policy for similar reasons.
“We can do an exchange or store credit, but no refunds unless there is something wrong with the product,” the anonymous user wrote Monday night.
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Another Twitter user wrote that customer feedback is “not great” because book rental companies exist.
Some commenters suggested that George and his business partner change the return policy at Volumes Bookcafe or add a restocking fee to minimize the hassle of customer returns.
Volumes Bookcafe is an independent bookstore located at 1373 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, Illinois.
(FOX 32 Chicago)
Others were confused because the customer allegedly told the bookstore staff that they used the books for staging.
“Wait, so someone bought a bunch of books to make it look like he reads? Then he came back and then [sic] when did the relatives leave?” questioned one Twitter user Monday night. “I had no idea this was a thing.”
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George took to Twitter again on Tuesday 10th January to thank the people who have supported Volumes Bookcafe.
He noted that the store typically receives “less than 1% [of] returns” and the recent customer he referred to “was an unusual case.
“Not ideal, but sometimes as a small business you end up jumping through hoops to please undeserving people to save yourself from chaos of a different kind,” George wrote. “It’s rare, but it happens. Thank you all! You’ve made such a difference for us when we needed it.”
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George confirmed to FOX 32 Chicago that the returned purchase was $800.
She told the local news outlet that independent bookstores have small profit margins and compete with larger retail stores.
Rebecca George, co-owner of Volumes Bookcafe in Chicago, wants customers to realize that big profits can hurt independent bookstores.
(FOX 32 Chicago)
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“Their decisions have a bigger effect on small businesses than other places,” George told FOX 32 Chicago.