Recent flooding closed Cal’s Books. This group of young people is working to bring it back

After news came out about Cal’s Books having to permanently close due to severe damage from last month’s flooding, Quetza Perez was devastated. 

The 25-year-old moved to Redding about two years ago from Southern California. After earning her first paycheck at a new job back then, she went straight to Cal’s with her partner, a longtime Redding resident who loved the bookstore. She’s adored the store ever since. 

“When Cal’s Books flooded, both my partner and I, we kind of broke down about it,” she said. “It was really heartbreaking for us.” 

That’s when Perez had the idea to take over the bookstore and revitalize it so it wouldn’t have to close. She formed a group of five people, and after meeting with Cal’s owner, began putting a plan in action to save the bookstore. 

The flood damage from the Dec. 21, 2025 storm was so severe that Cal’s owner, Carl Anger, quickly made the decision to permanently shut down the beloved bookstore. An announcement was shared online within days, and the bookstore formally closed on Dec. 28. But after an outpouring of community support — and the efforts of a group of ambitious young locals stepping in to carry it forward — Cal’s Books is making a comeback. 

“It’s a big tragedy, and I never thought this would happen,” Carl said, referencing the flooding that prompted his store’s closure. “But I have met with this group of five people, and every time I meet with them, I’m more and more impressed with their intelligence and enthusiasm. If anybody can pull this out and make this work and even turn it into a better bookstore than it’s ever been before, these are the five people that can do it.” 

How the idea came about, and how the young team plans to achieve it

The flooding in Redding and other parts of California caused by a storm on Dec. 21 left a still-unknown number of businesses and residences severely damaged, including Cal’s Books, which opened in 1974. According to a Facebook post by Carl’s brother, Darol Anger, two feet of water flooded the 3,000 square foot-facility, causing significant damage to the store and its books. Carl estimated that between 25,000 and 40,000 books were damaged.

A GoFundMe for the bookstore was started a day after the winter storm by community member Ron Giesecke, but on the following day, Giesecke paused the fundraiser, saying the store’s owner had told him that Cal’s will be closing. The bookstore opened for what would’ve been its two final days — on Dec. 26 and 27 — to sell the salvageable books, and the store was busy throughout both days. A reporter from Shasta Scout who was on site that day noted 84 people in line during the early afternoon of Dec. 27. 

In the days following the storm, posts made on Cal’s Books’ Facebook page about the store’s damage and news of its closing were shared hundreds of times, with community members commenting about their heavy disappointment and sharing memories of their visits to Cal’s through the years.

After the announcement that Cal’s Books was closing permanently, Perez vented to her brother about how distraught she was about the store’s closure. He asked her why not “just buy the place,” to which she responded that she doesn’t have the money to do so. But after sitting on the idea for longer and talking with her partner and friends, she was inspired to make this seemingly impossible dream a reality. 

Perez formed a team of five, all 20-year-olds and each bound by their immense love for Cal’s and local, used book stores. They reached out to Carl, and Perez said his reaction was “enthusiastic” and “electric.” The group met with Carl one week after the winter storm hit with a plan to not only repair the store from the flood damage, but to also revitalize the business to make it more sustainable in the years to come. 

The group has named itself “Cal’s Books Cooperative.” It’s operating under a unique organizational structure called a worker self-directed nonprofit. Perez describes this structure as a fusion between a workplace democracy and a nonprofit organization, where each employee of the bookstore acts as an equal partner instead of having a supervisor that manages the staff. This way, there won’t be concerns about power dynamics and hierarchy, and employees will have a direct say about wages, hours and decisions about the bookstore, Perez said. 

To pay for the store’s repairs and revitalization, the group has opened a GoFundMe in hopes of raising $50,000. Of those funds, $40,000 would be used to buy the assets of the business itself — the amount has already been agreed upon between the group and Carl — with the other $10,000 being used for facility repairs and incorporation and storage costs. To reach their goal the group is doing outreach on social media, researching grants they could apply for and looking for private donors. Almost $2,500 has been raised so far. 

Cal’s Books Cooperative plans to leave the “spirit and the soul of Cal’s essentially untouched,” Perez said, since many people in the community love the bookstore for its timeless look and old bookstore feel. However, the organization plans to make several changes to the business so that it can be sustainably maintained in the years to come. 

Perez said the group plans to look into other funding streams to support the business since it’s difficult for used book stores to compete with e-commerce. Sage Wagner, another member of Cal’s Books Cooperative, said Carl suggested that the group start selling books online so that sales can be extended to people outside of the Shasta region. Wagner also said they plan to host book fairs, book clubs and other community events at the store to help it become a third space — a place to hang out that’s separate from home and work — in the community. 

Eventually, when the group is able to gather enough funds, Cal’s Books Cooperative hopes to move the storefront to a different location in Redding for multiple reasons. They want Cal’s, which is currently located at 5242 Westside Rd., to be closer to town to allow people to walk, bike and bus there. They also want a building with more room to accommodate wheelchair users and for it to be located in an area less prone to flooding. 

While the group taking over Cal’s is very ambitious and enthusiastic about their plans, they also are trying to keep a realistic mindset about the challenges of running a small business, especially since they don’t have experience doing so. Perez said she understands that some people might question how a group of 20-year-olds could revive a used book store but emphasized that the team is committed to making Cal’s a place that can remain in Redding for another 50 years.

“It’s entirely fair for people to be skeptical, because with youth comes inexperience, and with inexperience comes mistakes,” she said. “But that’s part of the reason why we’re operating democratically. That’s part of the reason why we have Carl as part of the team helping us out. That’s part of the reason why we’re reaching out to people who are more experienced than us.”

She said Cal’s likely can’t reopen until the group’s funding goal is reached but hopes that can be achieved within the next couple of months. Aside from raising funds, the group’s other short-term focus is to clear the store of damaged and mildewy books and repair the inside of the facility, which is currently attached to a storage unit off South Market Street.

Overall, Perez said Cal’s impact on the community is too strong for it to be lost. Not only is it a place for people to buy affordable books, she said, but it’s also one where people can hang out with friends and meet new people. 

“That’s what real community is,” she said. “It’s the interconnective web which unites and binds all of us under a shared sense of purpose: each other. Cal’s books … the impact it’s had on the community, in many respects, is a reflection of the community itself.” 

Organizer Wagner said that he grew up in a low income family, and that Cal’s Books was one of the only places where he could afford to buy books for school and leisure. He said he wants to keep Cal’s open to give more people the ability to afford books.

“When [my family] moved up here and we found Cal’s,” he said, “suddenly little me had this whole library at home, and it was all because of Cal’s.

“Reading knowledge is our biggest asset we can have as human beings, and Cal’s just speaks for that,” he continued. “It’s an open well of knowledge and love and compassion and history throughout all the times, and anything you would ever need to know in your life.”

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