\u201cThese last 6 months have been really hard for us,\u201d says Franceschi-Chavez. \u201cWe canceled a lot of events when the ICE raids started happening and getting really heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve slowly been playing catch-up,\u201d she says, estimating that sales were down nearly 20% in 2025. \u201cI\u2019ve maxed out my credit cards, and this month I had to finally start pulling up a small business loan just to cover paying my employees, paying my rent. We got to the point where I had to make the decision: If people are no longer coming into our bookstore, is it sustainable? Can I keep digging myself into more debt, or is it time to shut it down?\u201d<\/p>\n
SEE ALSO:\u00a0Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more<\/a><\/p>\n There\u2019s an answer, she hopes, that will allow her to continue. Her husband, Alex Chavez, offered to split the space he uses for his Long Beach barbershop, Service and Supply<\/a>, and they hope to reopen the bookstore there in mid-February.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to move into that space to cut back on our rent and our expenses since we\u2019ll be sharing with him. Hopefully, that\u2019ll help us dig out of the hole a little bit,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, we\u2019re working on that: Painting it, and getting it ready to be able to move our furniture over,\u201d she says, while acknowledging one more unexpected challenge to the move.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a barbershop, so you can imagine the amount of hair and clean-up that needs to be done,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n Franceschi-Chavez describes the bookstore, which opened in December 2022, as a warm, cozy place where her two children have grown up, a space full of books representing the Long Beach community.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to make sure that most of the books that we house are either written for or written by marginalized groups,\u201d she says. \u201cIn our current social climate, I think there\u2019s a lot of silencing and book banning, and so these stories need to be out and visible to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the perception that running a bookstore must be a dream come true, she says it\u2019s been a challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have this idea of the cute bookshop owner who gets to sit back behind the register and read books, but it\u2019s very far from that,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of collaboration that needs to be done amongst the community, and that\u2019s something that I feel gets lost if you lose the independent bookstores in your neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, she cites fellow booksellers as being especially helpful to her. \u201cThe bookstore owner community is amazing,\u201d she says, mentioning Jhoanna Belfer at Bel Canto Books<\/a> (who will be scaling down her presence at the store\u2019s KUBO location<\/a>) and Nikki High from Octavia\u2019s Bookshelf<\/a> among those who\u2019ve been in touch. \u201cThey\u2019re very supportive. I\u2019ve gotten so many messages of encouragement.<\/p>\n \u201cSmall businesses just across the board are struggling. I mean, life is getting more expensive. You really have to choose where you\u2019re gonna spend your money,\u201d she says, saying that she finds it amazing that other storeowners still find ways to reach out.<\/p>\n So what can people do to support the store?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, we\u2019re just asking people to support us if they can. Come buy a book. We do have a GoFundMe going,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t really have a backup aside from hopefully moving and saving money on our monthly costs, and so I just hope to not be in the same position a year from now.\u201d<\/p>\n Acknowledging the community support, she\u2019s aiming to be optimistic about what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had some luck with the GoFundMe, and we\u2019ve had a giant influx of support in sales in the last week,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s great because it\u2019s helping us kind of pull through the rest of this month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually get amazing support from our community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767973447_761_LPT-L-LB-BOOKSTORE-0111-DK-05.jpg\")
The interior of Casita Book Store in Long Beach on Thursday, January 8, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)<\/p>\n![\"Owner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767973448_501_LPT-L-LB-BOOKSTORE-0111-DK-02.jpg\")
Owner Antonette Franceschi-Chavez poses for a photograph at Casita Book Store in Long Beach on Thursday, January 8, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)<\/p>\n