diff --git a/spring-ai-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/vectorstore/SimpleVectorStore.java b/spring-ai-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/vectorstore/SimpleVectorStore.java
index 7ff543c3d0f..c550b131397 100644
--- a/spring-ai-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/vectorstore/SimpleVectorStore.java
+++ b/spring-ai-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/vectorstore/SimpleVectorStore.java
@@ -207,14 +207,12 @@ public void load(Resource resource) {
 
 	private String getVectorDbAsJson() {
 		ObjectWriter objectWriter = this.objectMapper.writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter();
-		String json;
 		try {
-			json = objectWriter.writeValueAsString(this.store);
+			return objectWriter.writeValueAsString(this.store);
 		}
 		catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
 			throw new RuntimeException("Error serializing documentMap to JSON.", e);
 		}
-		return json;
 	}
 
 	private float[] getUserQueryEmbedding(String query) {