She paid no attention to what her parents were saying to her as she sat engrossed by the book in her hands. A man named Kevin entered the store to pick up his order of books when he stopped at the kid’s section and noticed the little girl. He came up to the counter and told employee Emily how lovely it was to see how much the girl was enjoying the book. He then asked how much the book was and requested she add it to his order, leaving quickly and quietly, seeking no acknowledgment for the payment of her book. When the girl’s parents came up to the counter to pay for the book for their daughter, Emily told them about Kevin’s generosity.

“Just so you know, a gentleman just before was really touched by how much your daughter was enjoying the book and wanted to make sure she was able to keep enjoying that so he’s actually bought that book for her’,” Emily said to the parents. Elizabeth's Bookshop on South Terrace in Fremantle. The parents were so touched they quickly ran out the front to try and thank Kevin but he had already disappeared. “A lot of the people around … were saying to the family that they had seen him looking and how much he seemed truly happy at the joy that the girl was receiving from the book,” she said. The parents decided to buy the book for their daughter themselves and pay forward the $9.95 for the next child.

“Each time a kid would come in and would buy a book I would tell them the story and let them know that $9.95 had been paid forward.” While Emily was in the store it was paid forward four more times, happening at least ten times over the weekend. “Everyone left with a smile on their face and I didn’t stop smiling all day,” she said. Kevin’s act of kindness had a ripple effect in the store all weekend. But acts of kindness in Elizabeth’s Bookshop are not uncommon.

A few weeks earlier, Emily remembers a young boy reading a comic his father could not afford, and a lady generously paid for it for them. “I think bookstores are maybe one of those nice places where lovely people seem to congregate,” she said. Elizabeth’s Bookshop’s motto, ‘When you want more than Amazon’, depicts the importance of shopping on the ground rather than online. Bookshops like Elizabeth’s continue to fight against online retailers like Amazon and Booktopia by promoting the benefits of shopping locally. “In coming to a local bookstore, you get that local experience where it is lovely people doing lovely things that you don’t get when you’re a bit disconnected online,” Emily said.

By shopping bricks and mortar customers have the opportunity to interact with each other and create memories attached to the books they buy, something that is not possible when you purchase online. “That book will always have those positive memories for people and they can go on and tell others,” she said. For this little girl and her family, they will always remember the kindness of Kevin and the positive influence their decision to pay it forward had on others.