Volume 272
Issue 6
02/10/2025
Barnes & Noble’s acquisition last summer of Tattered Cover sparked a surge of energy coursing through Denver’s already-vibrant bookselling landscape, says Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association executive director Heather Duncan. “I’m excited by all the cool, unique, and funky indie bookstores opening around Denver,” Duncan adds, noting that she’s eager to visit Spicy Librarian, a romance bookstore that opened in mid-January. “It’s an incredible time here, because of these amazing stores seizing such a great opportunity. It’s been happening in Texas, and now it’s come to Denver.” So many Denver-area indies have opened—and a few have closed—since Winter Institute was held there in 2016 that, Duncan says, “it’s a whole new scene.”
The American Booksellers Association’s full- and half-day tours of bookstores on February 23 will showcase the variety of indies in and around Mile High City, as well as stores farther afield. “You can’t just stay in Denver,” Duncan says. “There are amazing legacy bookstores in Boulder, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs that deserve attention, as well as new stores in little towns along the way, like Briggs Street Books and Music in Erie, which opened on February 1.”
Seven of the 18 bricks-and-mortar stores and pop-ups, plus a book warehouse, on the WI2025 tours are inside Denver’s city limits. “Things are good,” says manager Matt Aragon of 28-year-old West Side Books, which sells 70% used and 30% new books. “People want to buy local. Some still go to Tattered Cover out of loyalty, but our sales have increased this past year, especially in orders for new books.”
South of downtown, 20-year-old Who Else Books is located inside the 3,400-sq.-ft. Broadway Book Mall, a six-vendor cooperative. Who Else, which sells primarily used books, emphasizes sci-fi and fantasy. Like at West Side, Who Else’s sales are up, co-owner Nina Else reports. “More 20-somethings are browsing in groups, discussing books, recommending books to one other. They grew up with e-books and Kindles; now they want real books in their hands.”
Bookstores with innovative business models are also on the itinerary. The Shop at Matter, which bills itself as “the only full-service majority-Black-owned bookstore in the Mountain Time Zone,” specializes in books by “Black intellectuals, queer authors, feminists, and other intentionally unruly writers,” says co-owner Rick Griffith, while also serving as a graphic design consultancy and letterpress workshop.
Petals & Pages, situated in the upscale Santa Fe Arts District since October 2023, offers books and flowers in a venue with “a vibe that’s very floral,” says owner Dylah Ray. The store is a “queer, feminist space that’s beautiful and welcoming and safe for all communities,” with a wide-ranging inventory of classics, bestsellers, banned books, and LGBTQ+ titles, along with fresh flowers, dried bouquets, and a café.
Several stores on the tours represent alternative approaches to bookselling. Although booksellers will visit a traditional children’s bookstore, Second Star to the Right, they’ll also stop in at Rainbow Reva’s, a pop-up created by Reva Canali at the Town Hall Collaborative multi-use building. Canali, who sells children’s books by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors with social and racial justice themes, recently closed her bricks-and-mortar store in favor of pop-ups and an online shop.
Dream Books Co. “isn’t a traditional bookstore” either, explains partnerships manager Courtney Dixon. The company solicits book donations, which are sorted and evaluated for resale, donation to libraries or its other partner organizations, or recycling; 8.5 million pounds of books were diverted from landfills last year. “The booksellers are going to take a brief tour of our warehouse to experience the life cycle of a book,” Dixon says. “They’re going to find out what happens to used books.”
Denver’s southern suburbs are also well served by bookstores included on the half-day tours. Spell Books opened in Littleton in 2023, and Books Are Awesome opened in Parker in 2020 in a 2,500-sq.-ft. space. “We were hoping to be the Tattered Cover of Parker,” says co-owner Wendy Withers. She might achieve that goal: ever since Tattered Cover lost its indie status, Books Are Awesome has been partnering with libraries and scheduling more programming, including “at least two big author events each month.”
One full-day tour focuses on Boulder and its environs, beginning with stops at two iconic stores: Boulder Bookstore, founded in 1973, and Trident Booksellers & Café, founded in 1979, which has been an employee-owned cooperative since 2020. “Boulder is an eclectic community, and what brings all these different kinds of people together is books,” says employee-owner Joellen Raderstorf. “Bookstores are our community hubs. It’s not just about buying books; it’s about having conversations about things you care about.”
Near Boulder, Barbed Wire Books, open since 2009, is currently Longmont’s only bookstore, and the Read Queen Bookstore & Café has served Lafayette since 2020. Launched as primarily a used bookstore, Read Queen has flipped to selling mostly new books. A 4,000-sq.-ft. complex, housed in an old lumberyard, features the bookstore, a reading lounge, a full-service café, and a gift shop.
Another full-day tour will visit northern Colorado, including Fort Collins, which has five MPIBA member stores, ranging from Old Firehouse Books, celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, to the Crowded Bookshelf, a four-year-old online and pop-up store specializing in books on death and dying, sex, and relationships. “We’re advocating for a more death-positive and sex-positive society,” says owner Renee Becher, a former Old Firehouse bookseller. The February 23 pop-up will take place at Gilded Goat Brewing. “It’s accessible, there’s beer, and they’re okay with an influx of booksellers,” Becher adds.
Words of Windsor in Windsor and the Midnight Oil in Greeley are gearing up for the visiting booksellers, too. “I want to show people what can be done here in a semi-rural area,” says Words of Windsor owner Samantha Webb. Midnight Oil’s owner Pablo Guzman wants to show off his 4,500-sq.-ft. space, with high ceilings, in a former jewelry store. Not only are there four floor-to-ceiling stacks of used books anchoring the main floor, Guzman says, but “we have ‘the vault of banned books’ in the basement area.”
The third full-day tour will head south on I-25. Sudden Fiction Books is Castle Rock’s only bricks-and-mortar store, selling new and used books in a space in the Ecclesia Market, a 19th-century church converted into a dining, shopping, and music destination. “Our space is shared,” notes co-owner Christi Piper, “so there’s beer and food nearby.”
Like the Read Queen, Poor Richard’s Books & Gifts in Colorado Springs, the southernmost stop on this year’s tours, is so much more than just a bookstore selling new and used books and gifts. There’s also a restaurant, a café and wine bar, and a toy store. Founded in 1975 as a book cart from which founder Richard Skorman traded used paperbacks, Poor Richard’s is celebrating its 50th anniversary; it is also, says bookstore assistant manager Jeffrey Payne, coming off its best year ever.
Booksellers are in for a treat, says events coordinator Sonja Walker. Skorman, 77, a local celebrity famed for dressing as an elf during the holidays to plug parking meters for shoppers throughout the downtown area, will be on hand to welcome the booksellers. “Richard is probably the most beloved man in this city,” Walker says. “People come here just to see him. He’s a legend.”
