Industry Books Website tatteredcover.com Founded 1971 | Key people Joyce Meskis, Owner Phone +1 303-322-7727 Type of business Privately held company | |
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Tattered Cover is a bookstore chain in Denver, Colorado. It is one of the largest independent bookstores in the United States. Tattered Cover is open seven days a week at all branches, hosts prominent book signings, and is known for its customer service. Together, the stores maintain an inventory of over half a million books. Its LoDo store houses an events space which can seat over 250, while its Highlands Ranch store can seat up to 400 and its East Colfax store can seat around 100.
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History
Tattered Cover opened in 1971 in the Cherry Creek district of Denver as a small 950 sq ft (88 m2) bookshop. It was purchased in 1974 by Joyce Meskis. Between 1973 and 1983, it expanded seven different times, and in 1986 it moved into and consolidated at a new location in the Cherry Creek neighborhood, which remained open for over 20 years.
A second branch, purchased in 1990, was renovated and opened for business in 1994 in Denver's historic LoDo (lower downtown) district. In 1995, the Fourth Story Restaurant & Bar opened at the Cherry Creek location. In November 2004, a third location opened in Highlands Ranch; it lasted until April 2015, when it was moved to Littleton. The Cherry Creek location closed in June 2006 and moved to the newly renovated, long-defunct Lowenstein Theatre on Elizabeth Street at East Colfax Avenue in Denver. The Fourth Story restaurant was shut down at that time.
Like many independent bookstores, Tattered Cover is a member of the American Booksellers Association, and Meskis served as president of that organization in the early 1990s. Meskis is a former board member of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and is also the recipient of The William J. Brennan, Jr. Award from the The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, the PEN/Newman First Amendment Award, the Brandeis Award from Privacy International, and the American Library Association's John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award for Intellectual Freedom.
Meskis announced the sale of the bookstore in 2015 to Len Vlahos and Kristen Gilligan.
Colorado Supreme Court case
In 2000 the store resisted, on First Amendment grounds, a search warrant for records related to purchases made by a customer suspected of illegally manufacturing methamphetamine. The case made national news, and was eventually decided in the store's favor by the Colorado Supreme Court. Officers were attempting to establish a connection between the suspect and books they found on how to manufacture the drug. The purchase in question was later revealed to be of a book on Japanese calligraphy.