Willoughby Bookstore Confronts Google AI Error Claiming It Was Permanently Closed

Through the hand-painted door of The Viridian Bookshop in Downtown Willoughby, readers, Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts, and anyone looking for somewhere to belong will find a home. The fiction-focused shop is built for getting lost in a story, but this summer, some customers never made it through the door.

Chanel Bush, who opened Viridian in October 2025, says the shop's first year has come with the usual challenges. Google's generative AI wasn't one she saw coming.

In mid-July, a customer walked in and told Bush something strange: Google's AI Overview stated that the shop had permanently closed. This customer was searching for bookstores in the area a few weeks prior and chose not to visit Viridian due to this misinformation. Bush searched for her own store and got the same result: her shop, at the top of the search page, labeled as closed for good. Google’s summary also listed an address a few doors down from her actual storefront. 

Bush has claimed her Google Business Profile and has control over its description found on the Google Business Profile Panel. However, the AI-generated information was automatically listed as the first result; any potential visitor who didn’t scroll far enough to cross-reference the AI summary would be deterred. This explained a recent drop in sales for Viridian amid what was shaping up to be a successful summer. 

Thus began a long series of efforts to correct the error. Bush engaged in a series of debates with the AI bot.

“It took weeks; it would fix itself, and then it would go back to saying (permanently closed)," she says. "Then it was saying that we never even existed." 

When asked where it got its information, the program named a different source each time. Eventually, for Bush, this proved to be a fruitless endeavor.

“It (the AI bot) said something very interesting. It said that it is not a search engine; it is a language generator. So it focuses not on giving correct information, but giving just an answer, any answer.” 

Viridian isn’t alone.

“Multiple small businesses have reached out saying they’ve either dealt with this in the past or they’re currently dealing with it,” says Bush. “It’s made me more conscious when I’m searching for something.” 

Bush has even made a habit of calling businesses labeled as permanently closed to confirm whether or not they’re open. 

What changed things wasn’t Google — it was the Viridian's community. Once Bush posted about the problem on social media, her followers showed up, left reviews, debated the AI chatbots themselves, purchased items from the shop to make up for lost sales and switched on their phone location while they shopped, so Google’s own data would register an active storefront. 

“It truly warms my heart, because the community, they’ve really shown how much they want us here," says Bush. 

Despite the efforts of Bush and her followers, the AI results continue to vary in their accuracy regarding the bookstore's operations.

“It was consuming my life because it was damaging us so much. But after a certain point, once you have that community support, you just kind of have to move on,” says Bush. "We've done all we can do.” 

For now, Bush is concentrating on doing what she does best: running her business and fostering the community she has worked to create.

“I really, truly appreciate every person that has gotten involved in some way,” she says.

For the record, The Viridian Bookshop, located at 4081 Erie St. in Willoughby, is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Find more information at viridianbookshop.com.

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