A popular Denver bookstore that has fallen on hard financial times due to the coronavirus pandemic has announced that it is selling the business, and will become the country’s largest Black-owned independent bookstore in the acquisition.

The Tattered Cover owners Len Vlahos and Kristen Gilligan released a press release Wednesday revealing the sale of the bookstore chain to Bended Page LLC, a business collaboration between David Back and Kwame Spearman, the latter of which will serve as the bookstore’s CEO, according to The Denver Post.

“We want to preserve what we all love about The Tattered Cover and give it the necessary capital to beat COVID,” he said.

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A message was posted to the store’s website earlier this year that warned “the impact of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic made it clear that Tattered Cover was going to need not only new management,” but a new breath of financial life, NPR reports.

“When COVID hit in March and we shut everything down, it was very clear to us this was going to be financially devastating to the business,” Vlahos said. “And we were undercapitalized to begin with, so we started to look for a cash infusion. Serendipitously, David reached out … Since then they’ve created their own self-guided course in bookselling by educating themselves about the industry.”

Spearman said that his involvement with the Tattered Cover is more than an investment, he views it as a community asset that has brought many locals joy. The type of business Spearman, a Black man, said he felt necessary to protect.

Source: Denver Bookstore Becomes The Largest Black-Owned Independent Bookstore In The Country