Orders pour in for 100-year-old UK bookstore after tweet about no sale goes viral

The post quickly gained traction on social media with many including author Neil Gaiman retweeting it.

…Tumbleweed…

Not a single book sold today…

£0.00…

We think think this maybe the first time ever…

We know its miserable out but if you’d like to help us out please find our Abebooks offering below, all at 25% off at the moment…. pic.twitter.com/Cn5uhYWw88

— Petersfield Bookshop (@The_PBS) January 14, 2020

With over 8000 retweets and 16,000 likes, the post was flooded with people reaching out to the bookstore and placing orders. Talking about the unexpected response, managing director John Westwood told BBC that he had been “overwhelmed”.

“I believe in this industry, but online ordering and Amazon has hit us hard. I’ve had to sell my flat to keep the store afloat and most evenings sleep on a camp bed in the shop. We have lots of big plans for the future, on how to expand and grow, we just need to get there first.”

All hail the lovely John from @LRBbookshop who saw our message, checked the online inventory, saw something he liked, phoned and paid… lovely, lovely man!

— Petersfield Bookshop (@The_PBS) January 14, 2020

Hi, whilst we are always grateful for ideas please know that we run a speaker event and a poetry event every month, we often offer people free drinks, we run occasional discount shopping evenings, we offer discounts to a number of schools and organisations…

— Petersfield Bookshop (@The_PBS) January 14, 2020

Since the viral post, Westwood informed the news website that the bookstore received over 95 orders and 300 book inquiries.