Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Burrito That Saved a Bookstore


Broadway Books, an independent bookstore in Portland, Ore., had the best holiday season in its history after the owner's son tweeted that he would buy a burrito for anyone who spent more than $50 at his mother's store.

From a story in the Christian Science Monitor...

When Dyer’s son Aaron Durand learned that his mom’s bookstore might not make it, he decided to do something about it. Durand wrote a blog post in a last-ditch effort to save his mom’s bookstore. The post read, “I have a credit card that has $1000 left of credit on it and I want to spend that money helping people get to my mom’s store.” He promised to buy a burrito for anyone who spent more than $50 at Broadway Books.

Once Durand tweeted the plea on Twitter, the story went viral and Durand’s blog, which normally got three or four hits a day, got hundreds of visits. The community rallied around Broadway – they were literally running out of books, remembers Dyer – and business boomed.

“It just exploded and we had the best holiday season we’d ever had,” said Dyer. “That was…years ago and every single year since we’ve done better and I think it all started with that one little tweet.”

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