A bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore to Barnes and Noble this past Tuesday, ending its 53-year run as an independent local bookstore chain. Although it is now part of a large corporation, it will be allowed to operate independently, and its four stores will retain the Tattered Cover name. The sales price was $1.83 million, which will allow it to pay off its secured debt, and I would imagine Barnes and Noble will assume the chain's $3.4 million in unsecured debt. The stores were closed for several days this week for technology upgrades, which is a very good thing - I still have nightmares about the store's accounting system from back when I was the bookkeeper there for four and a half years. Which is when I took the self-portrait on the left at the Colfax store (the offices are in the basement) as I was leaving for the day.
The Colfax store is located in what was originally the Lowenstein Theater and retains architectural elements from those days. In fact, my ex-wife Lisa performed as one of the three sisters there one year during the Empire Lyric Player's presentation of the Mikado. We were dating at the time, and so I wound up attending every single dress rehearsal, which is when I took the photograph on the right (Lisa is in the center). I once could repeat every line from that Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, but after all these years, the only line I can remember now is "let the punishment fit the crime." Go figure. In any case, I wish the Tattered Cover and its employees all the best in their new undertaking.
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