The best part of any bookstore, for me, is the smell. As an admitted bibliophile who spent hours away in grandma’s bookstore, the smell of aged paper, bindings and cardboard brings back a flood of fond memories. In my quest to replicate my childhood memories, I searched for used books in each of the cities I lived in. Denver’s selection of used bookstores does not disappoint. Here are five local shops that stand head and shoulders above the rest.
• The Granddaddy of Denver used books at Sure Books Unlimited, a semi-suburban shopping center on Colorado Boulevard. The store has been voted “Best in Denver” several times by Westword readers and is a favorite place. The expansive shop offers some creature comforts such as grandfather clock and easy-to-browse sections, but if mini. -mall environment is too industrial for your taste, they also have a website, www.booksunlimited.com, where customers can order from their huge inventory online.
• Closer to downtown, in the act of retailing south of Broadway, is Ichabod’s Books. Ichabod also has a very large selection and many rare or out of print titles, and Mrs. Crane’s home, coffeehouse available. The store’s staff helps to track down out-of-print and obscure titles, and also a section used vinyl to music browsers.
• Capitol Hill Books, located near the State Capitol on Colfax Avenue in the Capitol, is a longtime Denver institution. The store, which belongs to the Rocky-Mountain Ancient Bibliopolis Antiquarian Association, is home a large selection of used and rare books as well as an eclectic but helpful staff. Capitol Hill has a Books Online database at www.capitolhillbooks.com for browsing or ordering.
• For those with a taste for the unique, Fahrenheit’s Books on South Broadway offers a variety of unusual used books ranging in subject matter from the occult to kitschy ’50s pulp fiction. If you can’t find it anywhere else, chances are good at Fahrenheit. The store is small but full and also offers an online database of books that are both in store and in their online-only collection. For more, visit www.fahrenheitsbooks.com.
• The Denver Book Mall, at 32 Broadway, is exactly what the name implies, a large, multi-vendor mecca of both new and used books, and an art gallery. Book vendors in the market include specialization in Asian culture, western books and more. Denver other letters.
Report:
- A guide to Denver brochures and other attractions
Denver’s Citysearch library page
On the Rocky Mountains Antiquarian Librarians Association page
