OAKLAND – Despite a devastating fire late last month that destroyed a preferred East Bay bookstore, community supporters are already celebrating the shop's atmosphere with impromptu events, neighborhood book drives and literary fundraisers.
Less than two weeks after Oakland-based bookstore East Bay Booksellers was destroyed by fire, an outpouring of support from the community has raised over $215,000 to assist the shop owner and employees rebuild.
“It's pretty overwhelming,” said Brad Johnson, the bookstore's owner. “I wasn't prepared for this level of financial support.”
The Online fundraiser calls the shop a “community home, an intellectual home, an artistic home and a literary home.” It has raised greater than 2,000 donations and was nearing a $250,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.
Many donors also left warm messages for the owners.
“I love this place so much and sincerely hope we can rebuild it,” wrote one donor.
“Bookstores are my safe place where I seek solace on hard days and celebrate on good days. And EBB was my favorite, an Oakland gem, and I was really happy to have it in my neighborhood,” said one other.
Johnson attributes the willingness to assist to the bookstore's “deep roots,” which were first laid by the shop's predecessor, Diesel Books, after which expanded upon by the team at East Bay Booksellers. The owners of the previous store immediately organized an internet fundraiser to support Johnson, a former worker.
The bookstore has received support and encouragement from around the globe, he said – not only financially, but additionally through emails and messages from people who find themselves confident “that (the store) can do it.”
“It’s encouraging, inspiring and motivating as I try to find a way to get us back in business,” Johnson said.
The fire was a “shock,” Johnson said, not just for him but additionally for the shop's employees. Fire officials said earlier this week they imagine the fireplace was began by accident.
Johnson added that the vast majority of the donations will likely be used to proceed paying worker salaries and advantages.
“They're resting and thinking about how to approach their day,” Johnson said, adding: “We're all adapting to the sudden change in our lives.”
With the insurance payout and funds raised, the East Bay Booksellers will find a way to pay a few yr's salary, Johnson said. The funds may even allow Johnson to search for a short lived location for his business.
Until then, Johnson has been working to seek out creative ways to proceed processing online orders and operate the bookstore and not using a physical store, he said.
He is working to seek out a way for patrons to select up online orders placed before the fireplace. The bookstore may even host a pop-up event at nearby Atomic Gardens on Aug. 24, where Johnson plans to sell tote bags and other items, he said.
“I can think of ways to be a bookseller, which I am – I didn't find out until fairly late in life that I was meant to be,” Johnson said. “If I can find ways to do it differently than I've done before, who's to say what lessons I can learn from doing it in a more normal way.”
The book deliveries and pop-ups will allow Johnson to remain in business – even when he’s making “only a fraction” of what the shop normally makes every month – until the insurance claim is made and he can find temporary space, he said.
The store also hosted a poetry reading that had been planned before the fireplace – however it was became a fundraiser with books donated by other bookstores, Johnson said. The event was held at Gilman Street Brewery, one among the companies that helped Johnson.
“Whatever we sell basically comes back to us in full,” he added. “Creative ways (of raising funds) are just very satisfying, very cool.”
“It keeps me from feeling too sorry for myself because it shows how your community is supporting a business they want to support,” he added.
Kar Johnson, a bookseller friend of Brad Johnson who runs Green Apple Books in San Francisco, organized a literary Fundraiser on Sunday to boost funds for the shop. The event, held on the Gilman Brewing Company in Berkeley, includes readings from five authors.
The event is free and donations are appreciated, in line with the Eventbrite page.
Johnson said he hopes to eventually return to the enduring constructing that when housed East Bay Booksellers. However, the bookstore's space has been leased and the constructing's owner will handle insurance claims and reconstruction, he said.
Johnson stressed that he’s attempting to remain hopeful concerning the bookstore's future.
“I think you just feel what you feel in the moment and you try to have some basic hope,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, we have that support and they'll go along with whatever we can muster.”
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