{"id":126952,"date":"2026-01-09T19:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/126952\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T19:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:01:09","slug":"planet-books-is-losing-its-warehouse-but-the-storied-shop-isnt-ready-to-close-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/126952\/","title":{"rendered":"Planet Books is losing its warehouse, but the storied shop isn\u2019t ready to close \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planet Books, a staple of the Long\u00a0Beach-area book scene that specializes in science fiction, is losing the massive warehouse it<\/a>\u00a0has called home<\/a> for the past five years.<\/p>\n

James Rappaport said during a phone conversation on Thursday that, despite the situation, \u201cI don\u2019t want to close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rappaport said he was informed late last year that the owner of the warehouse and the Antique Mall II next door, located on Freeman Avenue in Signal Hill, had decided to list the property for sale and that Planet Books\u2019<\/a> days were numbered inside the 4,000-square foot space.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe exterior of Planet Books in Signal Hill on Thursday, January 8, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

According to Rappaport, he was informed that the building would be sold, but that it could take years. \u201cThe ground underneath this used to be an oil field, so whoever buys the property is going to have to clean the ground up, and that costs a lot of money,\u201d he said. \u201cThen they came back just recently and said that there\u2019s a buyer for it, and it may go into escrow any day.\u201d<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: The \u2018Coachella for book lovers\u2019 festival returns to Pasadena in February<\/a><\/p>\n

The bookseller is holding out hope that the new owner will let him move next door and lease the Antique Mall II, rather than try to find a new space that could accommodate the shop\u2019s\u00a0used books, vintage toys and rare memorabilia that fill the shelves.<\/p>\n

\"OwnerOwner James Rappaport, left, helps a customer at Planet Books in Signal Hill on Thursday, January 8, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t know the status, and I have to stay open as long as I can, because books are not huge business,\u201d he said. \u201cWe get by, but not by a lot. I\u2019m just trying to stay open as long as I can to make enough money. The new place is going to require a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marcos<\/p>\n

Marcos Gastelum browses books for sale at Planet Books in Signal Hill on Thursday, January 8, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The interior of Planet Books in Signal Hill on Thursday, January 8, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 2<\/p>\n

Marcos Gastelum browses books for sale at Planet Books in Signal Hill on Thursday, January 8, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: \u2018American Reich\u2019 explores rising hate crimes and the Blaze Bernstein murder<\/a><\/p>\n

Rappaport hopes to stay in the Long Beach area. \u201cI\u2019d like to be in a nice neighborhood, or at least a safe neighborhood, or a neighborhood that\u2019s got decent walk-by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planet Books also sells online via AbeBooks<\/a>. \u201cSome of the books we have there \u2014 they might be a little sleazy, because they\u2019re vintage paperback noir or sleaze \u2014 but then we have a lot of signed first editions and a lot of art books.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bookshop celebrated its 27th anniversary in November. \u201cWe started on Anaheim Street in November of \u201998.\u201d The bookshop has held on for nearly three decades and Rappaport said he\u2019s not done selling books. If he\u2019s forced out of the space when a new buyer closes escrow, and is unable to lease the space next door, Rappaport is prepared to close temporarily and put his thousands of boxes of merchandise into a storage unit until he can find Planet Books\u2019 next home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally, the next place is my last place,\u201d he said. \u201cI like what I do. I really enjoy coming here every day, and I\u2019m not tired of it yet, and I\u2019ll do it as long as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:\u00a0Long Beach bookstore Casita, struggling with debt, will move to a new space<\/a><\/p>\n

Planet Books isn\u2019t the only bookshop in the area facing uncertainty. Jhoanna Belfer, the owner of Bel Canto Books<\/a>, said she recently downsized the store\u2019s footprint in KUBO, the Bixby Knolls location. The decision stemmed from her prediction that economic times would be slowing down due to \u201cfolks reacting to feeling like either they don\u2019t have enough money to spend on non-essentials, or folks feeling not in the mood to be buying right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JhoannaJhoanna Belfer, owner of Bel Canto Books, prepares to move one of her store locations from The Hangout in Long Beach, where she was photographed on Dec. 9, 2023, to a storefront a few doors down on 4th Street. (Photo by Erik Pedersen\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

\u201cJust on Fourth Street alone, there are four of us bookstores,\u201d she said. \u201cCasita<\/a>, which is about a 10-minute walk from us, they\u2019re one of the ones that are going to be moving stores physically to another space, because it\u2019s just not sustainable for them to stay in their current space. And so I think it\u2019s a huge loss to the community if any of these bookstores close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belfer said Long Beach is unique because it is home to a wide, diverse group of independent bookshops that each specialize in their own niche. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun to see the different personalities in each bookstore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belfar said the struggle shared among the area\u2019s booksellers rings an alarm bell. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a tough industry, and it\u2019s definitely something that is a labor of love. We do it, not with any expectation of becoming millionaires or making huge bucks out of it, but because we love books.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love literature, and we see the importance now more than ever, of helping to foster individuals who are curious, open-minded, caring, and interested in learning about other people and valuing other people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Planet Books, a staple of the Long\u00a0Beach-area book scene that specializes in science fiction, is losing the massive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[647,131,133,132,420],"class_list":["post-126952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-books","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}