Granada Books co-founder Sharon Hoshida announced Tuesday that a crowd-funding campaign fell short of its goal and that the State Street store will close May 3. (Gina Potthoff / Noozhawk photo)

Granada Books will close its doors May 3, according to its co-owners, who were unable to raise the funds to save the Santa Barbara community bookstore.

After putting out a call for help two weeks ago via an online crowd-funding campaign, the store at 1224 State St. fell nearly $30,000 short of its $50,000 goal.


With a heavy heart, co-owner Sharon Hoshida announced the decision Tuesday.

The independent bookstore opened in June 2013.

“We are very sorry for the way things have turned out,” she told Noozhawk. “It was a dream and sadly the dream will be over in May.”

While Granada Books was heartened by the response from the community, which did raise more than $20,000 in two weeks to keep the bookstore open, Hoshida said the support wasn’t quite enough to replace the void left when the business lost its largest local funder in early March.

The community bookstore, also co-owned by Emmett McDonough, was funded through sales and an accompanying nonprofit, Pomegranate Arts.

The owners hoped it could survive in the digital age serving as host to many community events.

The store will celebrate National Bookstore Day on Saturday, May 2, providing family and customer friendly activities as a “thank you” to the community for 20 months of support.

Anyone who donated to the GoFundMe page can receive a refund directly from the site, Hoshida said, and all funds left in the account will be used toward employee salaries.

Beginning Friday, all items in the store will be 40 percent off.

The bookstore will continue to host its community events in April, including First Thursday this week, a Poetry Zone on April 11, Santa Barbara’s Woman’s Lawyers in-store event on April 22, and Bookstore Day all day on May 2. 

“From the bottom of our hearts, and to the moon and back, we thank you for your support and love and for all possibilities,” Hoshida said. “We loved being your community bookstore.”

— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.