\u201cThese last six months \u2014 especially in the summer \u2014 have been really hard, not only as a small business owner, but as a community, as a society,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve depleted our savings, taken on some debt just to make sure we can make ends meet, but we\u2019ve gotten to a point where we\u2019re just not going to make it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
She explained that her business experienced a nearly 20% drop in sales year over year from 2024 to 2025. This situation has left her with two options: shut down the operation permanently or scale down the store to save some money and give the business a fighting chance.<\/p>\n
In order to save jobs and build back up, Franceschi-Chavez announced that the store would be moving into a smaller place attached to her husband\u2019s Long Beach barbershop \u2014 which is located within a couple of miles from Casita\u2019s current location.<\/p>\n
The video also included a plea for people to donate to a GoFundMe campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our casita has ever touched you, helped you make a new friend, open your eyes to a new story, we\u2019re asking for your help,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need your help to be able to move, to be able to pay our employees, to be able to bounce back.\u201d<\/p>\n
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(James Carbone \/ For De Los)<\/p>\n
Franceschi-Chavez told The Times in a Wednesday phone interview that she began noting a marked drop in business beginning in September. In an effort to cut back on costs, she decided to stop some of the programming at the bookstore, including a cafecito club because getting coffee for people was becoming too expensive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried everything that we could to try and get more people in our doors,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had to reach into our savings to cover those summer months. Then I started going into my credit cards. I had to start pulling small business loans. I was just digging myself into deeper holes because our sales were dropping and people were not walking in the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old business owner hoped that her store and her two employees will be fully transitioned to their new location by around mid-February. She noted that the GoFundMe has helped ensure that her employees will be paid, even if the store has to shut down operations for a few weeks during the transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe internet is a beautiful place sometimes \u2014 all these people that don\u2019t know me, but they believe in our mission. They want to see women-owned small businesses and businesses of color continue in a world where Amazon can deliver something in five minutes and everything\u2019s always on sale,\u201d Franceschi-Chavez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really beautiful to see that people out there still really care about their community and about having a space for marginalized groups to grow, gather and connect to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Illustrating the levels of generosity from the public and financial struggle of the shop, Franceschi-Chavez said that in the four days since posting about the store\u2019s troubles it reached the amount of sales that it did in all of December.<\/p>\n
She explained that store hours will remain the same as usual as things get settled and cautiously expressed plans to have a couple of community events at the current location in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n