A Tattered Cover Bookstore Update

I ran across some photographs the other day of Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore that I took back when I worked there as the bookkeeper, including the one on the left I snapped out the window of the hallway that led to the event space at the chain's Lower Downtown (LoDo) location. That was back when the store was in a building on the 16th Street Mall and contained three stories worth of books. The rent and maintenance at that location was high even back then, and when the TC faced still another rent increase, the new owners, who took over from Joyce Meskis - the founder of the chain, who sold it due to health issues - closed the store and moved to a new location in nearby McGregor Square. Meskis faced a similar problem with the Highlands Ranch store years before. However, she made a deal with the landlord to keep the rent the same, and agreed to move to a new location once they found a new tenant, which was a win-win for all. It is a shame those new owners did not suggest the same deal to the landlord of the LoDo store, which is still vacant three years later.

The husband-and-wife team who purchased the chain from Joyce Meskis, facing bankruptcy after the pandemic, sold to an investor group, which filed for Chapter 11 in October of 2023. That group had tried to increase revenue by opening stores in Westminster and Colorado Springs, which merely increased the chain's debt, and helped lead to the Chapter 11 filing. In conjunction with that, the McGregor Square, Westminster, and Colorado Springs locations were closed. At the time of the Chapter 11 filing, it was reported the store owed 2.2 million in debts. but last month, new Tattered Cover bankruptcy proceedings showed that they actually owe $820,000 in secured and 3.2 million in unsecured claims. The TC also asked for a month's extension to file their proposed bankruptcy plan. Just last week, according to the Denver Business Journal, the TC asked the court for another extension. And will they survive? It will be hard, as the 2 delays in writing that bankruptcy plan show. And I am afraid the Tattered Cover will never be the same as it used to be, years ago, when their four-story Cherry Creek flagship store was considered the best bookstore in the country, and the three-story LoDo store, seen in the photograph on the right, was not far behind. Nonetheless, all of Denver is pulling for them.