Denver is lucky to have a number of these light-bearing forts, even after a tough year that began with a fond farewell to BookBar and ended with the venerable Tattered Cover declaring bankruptcy and closing several locations. Like Neil Gaiman says: "A town isn't a town without a bookstore." So if you love Denver and you love books, you owe it to yourself to support the stores on this list. Spend your time and your cash on making sure the literary light from these Mile High castles of communication keep on shining.
West Side Books
3434 West 32nd Avenue
The Highland area of Denver — formerly just called the Northside — has always had a lot to offer, but one of the gems of the 32nd and Lowell area is still West Side Books, an act of sheer literary love since it opened its doors in 1997. It's a bookstore in the old-world sense, carrying some new and some used. It has little gifts and works of art and things worth giving to anyone who also has a serious to-read stack on their bedside table. In short: It's a one-stop shop that does its neighborhood — and Denver readers — proud.
The Bookies Bookstore
4315 East Mississippi Avenue
The Bookies has seen a lot of changes in the last few years, following the passing of founder Sue Lubeck. Nicole Sullivan bought it, and when her store BookBar closed the book on its successful run on Tennyson Street, much of the good work BookBar had been doing got picked up by the Bookies. It sponsors local readings by being on hand to sell the author's works, and it supports local writers by hosting events — something that's only going to pick up steam once it moves to its new location at 2085 South Holly, sometime in early 2024.
Printed Page Bookshop
1416 South Broadway
The Printed Page isn't just a single bookstore — it's a multi-member co-op that provides an impressively wide scope of literary types, and an impressive depth in terms of eras from which those books come. It's a rabbit hole for readers and lovers of relics from bygone ages, where you can peruse a stack of books that weren't just written before your own time — but before the time of generations past. The Printed Page is one of the shops in Denver where the past isn't just prologue: It's present, and in the grateful hands of Denverites.
Fahrenheit's Books
1415 South Broadway
Right across Broadway from the Printed Page is the new location of Fahrenheit's Books' new location, which moved just a bit farther down the street. But don't let the new digs deceive you: Despite the larger and sunnier space, it's still one of the best locations in Denver for used books — especially those paperbacks you remember reading back in the day and wouldn't mind reading again. Fahrenheit's motto is "curated eclecticism," and the store lives up to that, page by glorious page.
No...thank you, Capitol Hill Books.
Capitol Hill Books
300 East Colfax Avenue
Holding down the corner of Colfax and Grant is Capitol Hill Books, a store that's been serving the reading public for decades. It covers almost every genre of book in its many sections, and carries tomes both old and new, rare and super-popular. But its best achievement might be in its devotion to local authors, with a section that spotlights the work of Colorado writers right up front as you come in the door. You can't miss it: That's Denver pride, literary style.
Second Star to the Right Books
1455 South Pearl Street
Borrowing a line from Peter Pan to evoke the whimsy and magic of children's books, Second Star to the Right has been delighting children (and their parents) for years now. Offering books for kids and young adults of all ages (not to mention some toys and games, too), former teachers Dea and Marc Lavoie have succeeded in crafting their very own literary Neverland right there on South Pearl. It's also a store devoted to inclusion; another important element for lots of Denver families.
Teague Bohlen
2526 Colfax Avenue
Still the granddaddy of Denver bookstores, the Tattered Cover isn't quite finished winning the hearts and minds of readers. Late founder Joyce Meskis did good in establishing and growing the TC empire over the years, and even if the enterprise has had to pull back on an over-enthusiastic expansion of late, it's still the Mile High market leader for lit. Earlier this year, when the local chain had to shutter three recently opened stores, we suggested some ways that the Tattered Cover might keep its story going. Here's hoping TC can not only survive, but come back strong.
The Hermitage Bookshop
290 Fillmore Street
Cherry Creek's subterranean lair of legacy literature is the Hermitage, another excellent Denver spot for antiquarian books and old stuff you didn't know you had to have. Whether you're looking for a full set of the four A.A. Milne Pooh books with original dust jackets, or maybe that 1927 first edition, ninth printing of James Joyce's classic Ulysses bound in polished red calf over red buckram with gilt lettering for the title — you'll find it all at the Hermitage. And then some.
Broadway Book Mall
200 South Broadway
Still run by Nina and Ron Else, the Broadway Book Mall continues to bring together an eclectic and fascinating array of different books, plus art, vinyl records and sundry items of awesomeness. "Real books for real people" is the motto by which the store lives, reminiscent of the best ol' book barn you ever encountered, full of treasures waiting to be rediscovered. Don't miss Ron's infamous shelf of "Tall Books of a Miscellaneous Nature." You know, for those times you're buying books based mainly on height.
Mutiny Information Cafe
2 South Broadway
It's a coffee shop! It's a bookstore! It's a place for comics, vinyl records, pinball and breakfast cereal! Yes, Mutiny Information Cafe is all of that, and more, proving itself as a lifeline to independent Denver artists, writers and creatives. Want proof? Look no further than the 2022 sudden seizure of the store and the ensuing — and nearly immediate — turnout of support both emotional and financial that saved it less than a week later, a GoFundMe campaign helping to raise over $50K in a single day. Now that's proof positive that a bookstore is shedding the light that a town needs.
