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Happy new chapter for Westside bookstore as new home is found

March 16, 2018
       A happy new chapter is unfolding in the Bookman story.
       Those who read the previous Westside Pioneer article (at this link) will recall that it ended in a cliff-hanger, with Arthur and Kelly Klipple, the
The Bookman is set to relocate June 1 to this building at Seventh Street and Colorado Avenue.
Westside Pioneer photo
owners of the 27-year bookstore in the Red Rock Canyon shopping center, needing to find a new location by the end of May.
       They had become so desperate that they were giving flyers to customers, asking them to suggest places the Bookman could move to.
       Specializing in used tomes, it's the only bookstore on the Westside, outside of the regional history collection at the Old Colorado City History Center.
       “We are overjoyed to find a new place to be,” Kelly enthused this week, reporting that the address starting June 1 will be 631 W. Colorado Ave. (a free-standing building at the corner of Seventh Street).
       She credited store manager Steffany Boucher with spotting the “for lease” sign and contacting the landlords, long-time Westside property owners Dennis and Jeanie Sharon.
In a recent photo taken inside the current bookstore at the Red Rock shopping center, Bookman co-owner Kelly Klipple holds Mr. Blue, one of the store's two mascot cats.
Westside Pioneer file photo

       “They sound very thrilled to have us,” Kelly said. “They've been super easy to work with.” And the site itself, on the Near Westside, “is an area that seems to be rejuvenating.”
       Asked about the Bookman, Jeanie commented, “We're happy to have them. It's funny, I was just mentioning this to a couple of friends, and they said that's where they go for books.”
       Kelly elaborated that the store will remain open at Red Rock (3163 W. Colorado Ave.) until May 31, but books will be getting transferred to the new address throughout May.
       The move will fulfill two key needs for the business, she explained:
  •     The rent is far more affordable than what the Klipples have been paying at Red Rock, not to mention the $5,000 a month they were facing under a 25 percent rate increase that would have taken effect in June.
           Even under the old (current) lease at Red Rock, the Bookman was operating at a loss. Kelly and her husband Arthur work elsewhere to cover such costs, she has previously explained. The new economic situation will make it more affordable, she said, though adding, “nobody goes into bookstores to get rich.”
  •     At just under 2,000 square feet, the new site will require “downsizing” the store's 100,000-plus book collection, which now fills tall shelves in the 3,000 square feet at Red Rock. But “that's fine,” Kelly said. “We have a lot of books with a long shelf life now. We'll be able to take advantage of this opportunity to go through what we have and move what we want to.”
           What will happen to the books that are culled? Numerous sales are being planned at the Red Rock location in the weeks ahead. “We'll try to get those books in somebody's hands,” Kelly said.

    Westside Pioneer article
    (Business: Changes)

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