At the Denver Book Society, natural light from the skylight roof floods into a backroom filled with cooking books, puzzles and board games. An arch greets kids into the children’s section decked with bean bag chairs and reading nooks.

Soon, the new independent bookstore in Uptown Denver will offer coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages. Non-alcoholic, as well.

The Denver Book Society was founded by a joint venture between Richard Garvin and Kwame Spearman, the former CEO of Denver’s famous bookstore Tattered Cover before it fell into bankruptcy. The duo also attempted to acquire Tattered Cover but were outbid by Barnes & Noble. 

Following the wake of Denver’s storied independent bookstore becoming no longer independent, the idea for Denver Book Society was born.

The Denver Book Society located at 1700 N. Humboldt St. has already begun its soft opening with an official opening days away. It shares a space with two restaurants: Dos Santos and White Pie.

The joint partnership bought the building on March 25, 2025 for $2.9 million, a discount from the last time the building was sold in 2019 for $3.8 million, according to property records.

Spearman admitted he didn’t get it right with Tattered Cover.

He was the bookstore’s CEO from 2020 to 2023, and his leadership marked a rapid expansion to McGregor Square, Westminster and Colorado Springs that didn’t help its financial troubles.

The bookstore amassed a lot of debt, according to court documents, struggling to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic and online competition — leading it toward bankruptcy and its eventual sale. 

“The business was basically on fumes as far as the amount of cash. And I had really big, really grandiose ambitions,” he said.

Spearman explained that Tattered Cover didn’t have the proper resources to support its expansions and existing operations. The push to grow also stressed out the staff. 

It was “too much, too fast,” he added.

After leaving Tattered Cover as CEO and failing at winning the race for Denver mayor, he met Garvin. Garvin had an events business in San Francisco, moved to Denver during the pandemic and reached out to Spearman to help save Tattered Cover from its bankruptcy.

They created a partnership to bid on the bookstore, but lost to the largest bookstore chain in the nation. Barnes & Noble bought Tattered Cover for $1.8 million, marking the first time the retailer bought an independent bookstore in the U.S.

CREATING A COMMUNITY SPACE

Not defeated by the sale, it gave them the idea to turn a new page with a new bookstore.

For Spearman, he said he’s bringing in all the lessons and failures from his time as CEO.

“If I could do it all over again, I would have focused on just getting the basics right of really regaining that Tattered Cover experience that made it what it was,” he said. “That’s a huge opportunity here, the ability to start fresh, to start slower, and take all the things that I learned.”

The new bookstore isn’t exactly what he hoped Tattered Cover would be, had it all not failed. He said it was a legacy institution and he was trying to build off of its history.

But with a new store, Spearman said he can start from scratch with similar ideas — just at a slower pace.

“I think this is the direction that I wanted Tattered Cover to go,” he explained.

The Denver Book Society is intended to be a “third space” for people to gather, talk about books or just lounge.

Coming out of the pandemic, Spearman said bookstores have started to re-embrace getting the community back to public spaces. Denver Book Society has room to host authors, book clubs, game nights and DJs sets on its outdoor patio. 

Dogs, like the one on its logo, are also welcome. 

In a landscape where consumers can easily buy a book they want off of Amazon or Barnes & Noble, he said the store is designed to help people discover books they weren’t planning to buy. They curated books with the help based on recommendations from the staff’s tastes and expertise.

“​​The reason why you come to a place like this is because you can have conversations and you can find something that you never knew that existed, and we want our inventory and our staff experience to respect that,” Spearman said. 

Having food and beverages will also make the space more conducive to building community, he said.

The Denver Book Society will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday. It will have longer hours on Friday and Saturday, closing at 8 p.m.

Once it secures its liquor license, Spearman said the bookstore will close its doors closer to 8 p.m.

“We really want to reflect Uptown, we want to reflect Denver, we want to reflect the community,” he said. “By starting off in this beautiful 3,500 square foot space, I think we can do that.”