TATTERED COVER TO MOVE THIS SUMMER: I’ve been prowling the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver since 1978. One of the country’s best indie stores was six years old then, operating out of a storefront in the Cherry Creek Shopping District before the area boomed in the 1980s. New books were on the ground floor, used books upstairs. I always found something I thought I needed. If I didn’t, I just asked one of the employees and since they were diehard book people, they usually found it. Remember, this was way before Google. The TC then moved down the street (assisted by loyal customers), and then took over a four-story building abandoned by a department store. It expanded but still retained its indie outlook and a serious reader could find obscure magazines and books and lounge around reading in a stuffed chair or even on the floor. Nobody seemed to mind. TC expanded, with stores in Denver’s LoDo and out in the burbs. Lately, though, Cherry Creek has gone ultra chi-chi, with more shoppers looking for designer shoes than books, and then there are those competing chain stores all over the metro area. TC founder and guru Joyce Meskis notes that increased costs have forced the store to move when its lease expires. Fortunately, that move (tentatively scheduled for late June) will be to the renovated historic Lowenstein Theatre on East Colfax, right across from East High where my father played trombone in the school band. Joyce says that TC will continue to look for a small satellite location in the Cherry Creek area. "We’d love to be able to have a presence in Cherry Creek. We’ll have to see how the story evolves.” The new space will feature a newsstand, coffee shop, author event space, and free parking, says the TC web site. Its neighbors will include a Twist & Shout music store and other tenants.
