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A Guide To The Tattered Cover

Tattered Cover
The Tattered Cover in LoDo (credit: CBS)

The Tattered Cover is one of the best known, highly regarded, not only independently owned bookstores, but independently owned businesses in the country. All three stores are staffed and stocked with excellence in every sense of the word.

Civic-minded owner Joyce Meskis has been fighting for First Amendment rights, with regard to censorship and freedom of speech and how they relate to books and bookstores, for a very long time. The philosophy of the organization is apparent to anyone who frequents the stores.

Averaging nearly 400 authors, illustrators, and other special guests each year, the TC brings a variety of authors, including celebrities, pundits and people in then news, to the metropolitan area. Its LoDo store houses an events space, which can seat over 250, while its Highlands Ranch store can seat up to 400 and its Colfax store can seat 100. Together, the stores maintain an inventory of over half a million books.

The Tattered Cover
The Tattered Cover (credit: CBS)

The Historic LoDo Store

1628 16th Street
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 436-1070
Monday - Friday 6:30A - 9P
Saturday 9A - 9P
Sunday 10A - 6P
The LoDo Tattered Cover is located in the restored Morey Mercantile Building in Lower Downtown Denver. With two stories of books and a fireplace that beckons you to curl up in front of it to read away the day, the LoDo Tattered Cover has the charm and grace of an old library from a day gone by. It boasts a cozy coffee shop and extensive newsstand.

Tattered Cover on Colfax
The Tattered Cover on Colfax Avenue (credit: Paul Harris)

The Colfax Avenue Store

2526 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
(303) 322-7727
Monday - Saturday 9:00A - 9:00P
Sunday - 10:00A - 6:00P
Located in the historic Lowenstein Theater, Tattered Cover Colfax Avenue has two floors of books and a generous space for author events. With more than 150,000 titles in inventory and an extensive newsstand, the Colfax Avenue Store promises readers hours of leisurely browsing. Overstuffed chairs furnish the comforts of home, while a coffee shop on the main floor provides ready sustenance for those who want to spend the day perusing the shelves.

The Highlands Ranch Store

9315 Dorchester Street
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
(303) 470-7050
Monday - Saturday - 9A-9P
Sunday 10A - 6P
Third in the trio The Tattered Cover Book Store in Highlands Ranch is located in the Highlands Ranch Town Center. The store features 21,754 square feet of retail space and includes a coffee shop, newsstand and large Children's section. Both of the other Tattered Cover locations are in central Denver. The Highlands Ranch store offers the south metro reading community the kind of atmosphere and special events that are unique only to the Tattered Cover.
The Coffee & Tea Shop opens at 7A weekdays and 8A weekends.

Visit the Tattered Cover website at tatteredcover.com for even more information.

- Nancy Mills is Colorado children's picture book author. You can see some of her work at PieintheSkyPublishing.com. Follow her on Twitter @AbFabKidLit.

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