Spotlight on Bookstores: Tattered Cover Book Store; Denver, Colorado

This week’s “Spotlight on Bookstores” is written by Ti of Book Chatter and Other Stuff; she’s been writing her book blog for about six months now.  Here’s how she describes herself there: “My life is a chaotic mix of work, family and fun. Balancing a full time job while managing the social calendars of two kids (three if you count my husband) is a bit of a challenge and on some days it makes me completely mental. That said, the entries you read here may make you laugh or cry depending on how much sleep I’ve had. Enjoy!”  And I do enjoy reading it, head over and check out more of her posts.

On a recent trip to Denver, Colorado we managed to hit quite a few of the local attractions. However, at the top of my “must visit” list was The Tattered Cover Book Store in historic LoDo. It’s located at the end of the 16^th Street Mall, near Union Station and Coors Field at 16^th and Wynkoop.

My first visit to the store did not turn out so well. I had hungry, thirsty kids with me and it was very warm out. We had just walked quite a bit and silly me thought we could stop in the book store to rest up. I had visions of me browsing the aisles with kids in tow… husband wandering aimlessly, happy, smiling faces.  No such luck. I was very disappointed and was grumpy for the ride back to the hotel.

However, all was not lost. The next day my husband dropped me and my daughter off at the Children’s Museum of Denver and he, along with my son, hit a Dodger game at Coors Field. They took the rental car so my daughter and I were on our own.  One hour into our museum visit she got extremely bored and said she wanted to go to the bookstore. Great! 

I pulled out my map, and tried to figure out a good walking route to The Tattered Cover. Denver has this fantastic park right in the middle of Downtown called Confluence Park, which is where the South Platte River and Cherry Creek come together. My daughter is almost 5 but walks as slow as molasses so we trudged ahead, inching along in 100 degree weather. I like to say that we “went over the river and through the creek” to get to The Tattered Cover.

When we arrived, it had just begun to rain. Yes, in 100 degree heat. We got some refreshments at the little café which is located right inside the bookstore. We opted for a chai tea, apple juice and a black and white cookie…which was yummy.  They also had sandwiches which looked pretty good, and a great variety of coffee drinks. It was conveniently located by the magazine racks so many people were eating and reading at the same time.

With food in hand I took a good look around. The floors were hardwood with some carpeted areas and the entire store had a very cozy feel to it. We found the children’s section, which was in a room all by itself. It had lots of throw pillows on the floor, small furniture strewn about for the kids to sit on, and a big, comfy couch right by the window. There was no one there when we got there so we grabbed the couch. My daughter pulled a stack of books over and we hunkered down with the rain pouring down outside. It was lovely!

After almost two hours in the children’s section, we ventured off to check out the rest of the store. The second floor houses much of the travel and fiction books and all throughout you can find comfy chairs, the kind of chairs that you would see in someone’s house, and many of the reading rooms felt more like living rooms. It was so comfy and quaint. The staff was friendly and they have their own newspaper publication that covered their indie picks. On one of the upper floors, I also noted a meeting room that is used for events. At the time of my visit, nothing was scheduled but it seemed like quite a nice venue for an author chat.

I walked out with Anne of the Green Gables (I’ve always wanted to read it) and my daughter walked out with a book about princesses.  After everything was said and done, that trip to the bookstore was the highlight of the trip. I highly recommend visiting The Tattered Cover in LoDo if you are ever in the area.

Thanks, Ti!  This is a great recommendation for a side trip (or a full-day trip!) if I’m ever in the Denver area.  Who else has visited?