Three years ago during the holidays, Broadway Books in Portland, like many bookstores, was having a dismal season. The store's co-owner, Roberta Dyer, was wondering if they were going to make it. Hearing this news, Dyer's son, Aaron Durand, tweeted from his home in San Francisco: “If you're in Portland do me a favor??? Buy a book at Broadway Books. No wait, buy 3 of em. I'll buy you a burrito the next time I'm in town.”
And then, “a very
sad December,” Dyer says, “turned into a very festive December.” The store's sales exploded, and it had its best holiday season in seventeen years. (It's unclear how many people responded to the offer, since most customers chose not to collect on their burritos.) “It really happened overnight,” Dyer told Twitter recently, which profiled her and Durand for its Twitter Stories series. “And that was almost three years ago, and every single year since we've done better. And I think it started with that one little tweet.”
Watch the Twitter video here.
