Early on July 30, 2024, East Bay Booksellers in Oakland, Calif. was destroyed by a fire. Owner Brad Johnson pledged to rebuild, and on November 29, East Bay reopened in a storefront half the size of its former location, but in the same retail corridor.
“It's nearly every square foot shoppable space,” with some 7,200 individual titles in stock, Johnson said. “We don't have the same density of restaurants and cafés sharing our block” on College Avenue anymore, “but it feels like it’s evolving,” and sales are promising.
Johnson says that construction has been “a bit like starting a store, with the huge nudge of having an existing one.” Curating the shelves has given him and his four staffers—all of them full-time—“an even more refined sense of what we want to feature.”
East Bay spotlights small indie publishers and academic presses, and Johnson isn’t beholden to carrying every bestseller. “If a book’s a ‘maybe,’ it really has to earn its keep,” he said. “We’re much more inclined to take a risk on something that has no marketing budget” and needs a boost. “When you have the supremely finite space of 1,000 square feet, it helps make those decisions for you.”
Patricia Nelson, publisher’s rep for Princeton University Press and PW’s 2024 rep of the year, nominated East Bay for bookstore of the year, hailing the store’s from-the-ashes revival. Despite the cataclysmic fire, “Brad kept the soul of East Bay Booksellers alive with fundraising, pop-ups, author events, and strong social media,” Nelson wrote in her nomination, adding that “all staff came through with security, dignity, salary, and benefits.”
Johnson stands behind his philosophy of fostering curiosity, compassion, and intelligent critical thought. East Bay's manifesto, posted on the store website, shapes “our role in the greater ecosystem of publishing," he said. "What sets us apart, I think, is a vocal and physical commitment to underrepresented or threatened voices.”
