Episode 9 | Can honesty save a bookshop?: Georgia Eckert, Imagined Things (Harrogate, Yorkshire)

What happens when a bookshop owner admits that business is going badly? In 2018, Georgia Eckert closed out a particularly quiet day at Imagined Things, her independent bookshop in Harrogate, having taken just £12.34. Rather than quietly worrying about it, she did something business owners are often told not to do: she told everyone.Her tweet went viral. Authors shared it, journalists called, customers travelled from across the country and thousands of people contacted the shop wanting to help. Georgia believes it may have saved the business.But the story of Imagined Things is about much more than one extraordinary day on the internet. Georgia tells Tom about leaving a secure career as an NHS radiographer to open Harrogate’s first independent bookshop in almost 20 years; why the original Imagined Things was beautiful but almost impossible to find; the realities of building a business without any previous bookselling experience; and why she later asked her customers to help crowdfund the shop’s move to a bigger, more prominent home.They also talk about the art and science of choosing what deserves space on the shelves, the books that surprise her, becoming a mum while running a small business, and why buying from an independent bookshop can amount to something much bigger than simply buying a book.Bookshop Stories is hosted by writer and bookshop obsessive Tom Idle, exploring the people, decisions, risks and realities behind independent bookshops.Follow Bookshop Stories on Instagram and Substack for more from the series, and browse books recommended by guests at the Bookshop Stories store on Bookshop.org.