Bel Canto Books moving to new space on Long Beach’s Retro Row this Spring – Press Telegram

Bel Canto Books, an independent Filipina-owned bookshop in Long Beach, is set to relocate to Fourth Street’s Retro Row business district this spring.

The business was founded by poet and former hospitality executive Jhoanna Belfer in 2018, according to Bel Canto’s website, and began operating out of The Hangout — a collaborative marketplace of small business — the next year.

But The Hangout, according to Bel Canto’s recent news release, is set to shut down at the end of December.

That news, Belfer said in the press release, prompted her to search for a new location for Bel Canto Books.

The business will relocate to 2106 E. Fourth St. — the former site of Relics, a Black-owned film lab — in the spring.

It’ll be Bel Canto Books’ first standalone brick-and-mortar location, last week’s announcement said.

“It will be a big transition, packing up our home at The Hangout, and moving into our new digs in early January,” Belfer said. “It’s a big new challenge, running a brick-and-mortar space on our own, and we are so excited for this next chapter.”

The new space, Belfer added, will allow Bel Canto Books to expand its selection of merchandise; host community workshops and book readings; and potentially launch a book subscription service.

Bel Canto will maintain its other locations inside Steel Cup Cafe on Lakewood Boulevard and KUBO LB, a creative collective, on Atlantic Avenue.