Eight years ago, me and Tim West opened the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, north London. Until 2007, we worked in a large chain store in the area. Then, one sunny August morning, the area manager turned up unannounced to break the news that the shop would be closing in nine days time.

While many of the staff relocated to other branches, Tim and I decided that Wood Green still really needed a bookshop. It has an amazing community and we love the place. So we decided to open one ourselves.

We started a blog called Open a Bookshop, What Could Possibly Go Wrong, and chronicled this ambitious plan. It took six months, a £60,000 loan from the bank and an army of amazing volunteers who, having followed our exploits online, wanted to come and show their support in whatever way they could. Finally, on March 2008, the bookshop opened to a trumpet fanfare and many balloons.

Since then, it has been our aim to try and be more than just a shop where you buy books: we organise local walks, standup comedy, live music, songs and stories for toddlers and plenty more, as well as all the usual author visits and book signings. We also work closely with many of the local schools, promoting reading for pleasure. Because reading is a pleasure. It has not been easy at all and it’s often a real struggle financially, but we absolutely love what we’ve built here and couldn’t imagine a world without it.

Then, on Wednesday, as Tim was busy serving customers, an opportunist thief nabbed £600 from behind the counter. For a small business like ours, £600 is a LOT of money. It was a real kick in the guts to discover this had happened.

After all the formalities with the police were out of the way, I mentioned the incident on Twitter. The Guardian books site’s very own Sam Jordison read the tweet and contacted me saying he wanted to help. (Sam’s nice like that.) He asked if I’d mind him setting up a Just Giving page to try and get back some of the money that was taken. I told him that I positively encouraged such a thing, so he did.

Photograph: Clement Huelse

Then something amazing happened.

People started donating money, then more people, and it didn’t seem to stop. The target of £600 was smashed in less than two hours, and then an anonymous donor added another £500 with the message: “With love for an independent bookshop”. All the donations have come with messages of support, from regulars, book agents, and even people who used to live nearby and miss our shop.

Things continued in this way throughout the day, and as I type this at 11pm on Thursday evening, the total stands at £2,400 – four times the original target in under 24 hours. Not only that, we’ve had people buying extra books from us online, dropping donations into the shop, and we even got three packets of biscuits (including shortbread).

I’ve spent much of the past 24 hours in tears, totally overwhelmed by people’s generosity. Whatever total is finally reached, it will make a world of difference to our business. I want to thank everyone who has contributed in any way at all to this (apart from the thief). Social media can be an incredible thing when it works, can’t it?

If you’d like to support the Big Green Bookshop, you can donate here.