Matt Aragon-Shafi
Audio By Carbonatix
It was back in 1997 that Lois Harvey opened West Side Books and Curios in Highlands Square at 32nd and Lowell. Those were the days when a two-bed, one-bath bungalow could still be found for around $100,000, when Common Grounds was still slinging coffees, when Heidi’s Deli was on the corner and the nearby Tennyson corridor had not yet exploded into a gentrified canyon of unrecognizability. Now, nearly three decades later, West Side Books is closing — but not for long.
West Side Books and Curios will reopen in a smaller section of its former space by mid-January with a focus on new books and knick-knacks. There will be a grand reopening event sometime in February — date to be announced. The new plan is to let go of the square-footage-hungry used books section of the store, vacate that back space completely, and move the store into the sidewalk-facing front.
The changes to West Side Books have been coming for a while. Lois Harvey’s brother originally owned the building in which West Side sat, but sold it three years ago to fellow local Grant Gingerich, owner of some other properties on the block, including the Mexican restaurant El Camino. West Side Books’ lower-than-market-rate rent was grandfathered in for a few years to give it a cushion, and that ended in summer 2025. “It was tough to carry for three years,” admits Gingerich. “But it was important for me to honor it, and we did. Now we’re just trying to figure out what we can all do together to make sure West Side Books remains both open and viable. There are a lot of vintage spaces in the Highlands that deserve preservation, and West Side Books is one of those.”
Teague Bohlen
What the new plan looks like starts with former manager Matt Aragon-Shafi purchasing the business from Harvey. That transition was made official on New Year’s Day 2026, when a party was held at the store to mark the occasion. Aragon-Shafi, who grew up in the neighborhood and fondly recalls spending time at West Side Books as a teenager, says the event was a rousing success. “The building was full of people,” he says, “friends, family, and just random people walking by who have been around the store for years and stopped in to wish us well. It was great.”
Aragon-Shafi says he had an interest in taking over the store, even with the necessary changes looming. “Lois said that if I believed that the store could do well selling only new books,” he says, “she was behind me 100 percent. She’d had an extension of the original lease agreement from this last summer through January 31, so we knew that was our deadline.”
Gingerich plans for the vacated back area formerly used by West Side Books to become a community space. “It’s envisioned as an art collective coffee-bar type of environment,” Gingerich says. “Community-driven event space, including the courtyard as a sort of amphitheater. So we can have a congregation area on 32nd that right now doesn’t exist.”
Aragon-Shafi says he’s excited about Gingerich’s plans for that community space, and hopes to take advantage of it with book, art and music events sponsored by his new West Side Books. “We want to be even more neighborhood-focused,” he says. “I’ll be putting up a Community Bulletin Board, start an events calendar, such that we’re able to invite singer-songwriters or even comedians, along with author events. And maybe with whatever happens with that back space, it’ll be even easier to do that.”
One change that Aragon-Shafi plans to make is to re-emphasize the “curios” part of the store’s name. “I want to bring that back,” he says. “Curios is a word people don’t use as much anymore, but to me it just means interesting things. Cool stuff. Tsochkes. Handmade crafts, candles, really anything. I want people to be surprised.” Aragon-Shafi laughs. “I guess I can sell anything so long as it’s not illegal, right?”
But before any of those changes can be made, West Side Books has to close for at least a week. “We have a strict deadline of January 31 to be out of that back area,” Aragon-Shafi says. For a couple of days, that means inventory, and then for several days following, redesign of the new front space that now becomes the whole store. He says he has a volunteer list already going, and if anyone wants to lend a hand, they can email the store.
While it’s a good thing that West Side Books will survive, saying goodbye to former owner Lois Harvey and the used books as a whole is tough, and both will be much missed. “Thankfully, the new book part of the bookstore will survive; smaller, but with the same fine customer service WSB is known for… and the same eclectic selection that seems right for the ‘hood,” she says, and adds that “whatever happens, remember: books open minds and hearts. Read at whim! Read with determination! Read as if your life depends on it! Read to save democracy! Read, or see your world diminish.”
West Side Books, 3434 West 32nd Avenue, will have a soft reopening sometime in mid-January, with a grand reopening to follow in mid-February. For up-to-date information on all of the above, keep an eye on the West Side Books website.
