Kwame Spearman, former co-owner and CEO of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colo., plans to open Denver Book Society, a bookstore with "soul and substance," at 1700 Humboldt St. in City Park West, in 2026. The Denver Post reported that Spearman and a partner bought the 9,000-square-foot building for $2.9 million.
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| Kwame Spearman | |
"Hopefully, second time will be a little bit more of a charm," said Spearman, who, with David Back, led an investor group that bought the Tattered Cover in December 2020. Spearman served as CEO until April 2023, when he stepped down during an unsuccessful run for the city's school board. Prior to that, he had briefly run for mayor. His tenure at Tattered Cover was marked by a large number of store moves and openings as well as the unusual public airing of staff dissatisfaction. At the time, Spearman said that Tattered Cover had had severe financial problems for years and needed to cut costs or grow, with growth his choice.
Tattered Cover was sold to Barnes & Noble last summer for $1.8 million. "Tattered Cover losing its independent status was disappointing to a lot of people, including me," Spearman said.
He wants to open his new bookstore by spring 2026, in about 3,500 square feet of the former Humboldt Kitchen + Bar restaurant, which closed two years ago. He is also considering turning the restaurant's former kitchen into an approximately 2,000-square-foot eatery. He described the Humboldt St. space as "a super awesome location."
Spearman's partner on the deal, Rich Garvin, is a philanthropist from San Francisco. The Post noted that Garvin came to Denver during the pandemic, and the two men had made a bid to maintain control of Tattered Cover once it entered bankruptcy in 2023.
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| The future home of Denver Book Society | |
The goal for Denver Book Society is to become a community hub, with events and programming complementing the literature inside, Spearman said, adding that the bookstore will stand out by what it stocks: "Books that you can easily find on Amazon, you can find on Amazon. You come into our store and have a best-in-class staff opportunity that recommends a book that you wouldn't have found otherwise."
Regarding his first experience as a bookseller, he observed: "I think a combination of its history, the pandemic and me being a first-time bookstore owner made that incredibly challenging, but in my role I saw the potential of what or how a bookstore could really impact the community and we plan to do just that."