Oakland’s East Bay Booksellers ‘Completely Burned’ in Three-Alarm Fire

Update, July 31, 2024:

After a three-alarm fire gutted East Bay Booksellers, owner Brad Johnson announced that the public can support the store by purchasing books or gift cards online or contributing to the Oakland shop’s GoFundMe.

“It will definitely help us as we prioritize the safe landing of our amazing professional booksellers … as we negotiate our way through the byzantine world of insurance claims,” he said in a video posted to Instagram. “What does the future hold? It’s too soon to say.”

In the video, Johnson reaffirmed his commitment to the local community of readers and thanked them for their support. “With your help, your support — be it general good will, be it donations, be it gift cards — we will figure it out,” he said.

Original story:

Beloved Oakland shop East Bay Booksellers was devastated by a fire Tuesday morning, its owner confirmed on social media. “You may have heard the news already. It breaks my heart to confirm it: the bookstore has completely burned in this morning’s fire,” reads a post on the store’s Instagram page.

The Oakland Fire Department said it got a call about the fire on College Avenue in Rockridge at 5:30 a.m. this morning. “Upon arrival we had heavy smoke and flames coming from a bookstore,” said Oakland Fire Chief Damon Covington in a video posted to X, noting that five people were displaced and one person suffered minor injuries in the three-alarm fire.

A video of the blaze shows the entire inside of the store engulfed in flames.

East Bay Booksellers has been in business since 2017. Prior to that, the address was home to Diesel Books for 28 years until employee Brad Johnson bought it from its original owners.

The vibrant storefront in a walkable stretch of College Avenue was known for unusual and zeitgeist-y book recommendations, from the latest queer sci-fi to nonfiction books about racial justice. On Instagram, East Bay Booksellers said it would soon share how the public can support the bookstore in the wake of the fire.