Tattered Cover opened its fifth bookstore on June 26, with a focus on Denver metro’s youngest community members. Tattered Cover Kids, located at Stanley Marketplace, features low shelving and titles for readers ages zero to 13, plus a selection of parenting books for moms and dads. Paintings of sea and air animals in flight, by muralist Patrick Maxcy, wrap around the tops of the walls, and a faux tree invites readers to sit in the “shade” and relax.

Whimsical aesthetics are not Tattered Cover’s only way of drawing in young readers and their families. TC Kids will host programming including storytimes, author talks, and birthday parties.

They’ve also sought community input from organizations and public education leaders in Aurora, paying attention to the city’s diverse population and their needs. “It’s not just enough to have a store and assume that that store is welcoming to everyone,” says CEO Kwame Spearman. The foreign language section next to the checkout stand is a result of the community feedback.
Spearman lauds the Stanley Marketplace team for creating a community that’s cognizant of its surroundings: the Central Park neighborhood and Aurora more broadly. TC Kids, in his mind, adds to the ecosystem in one key way.

“If your kids are loving going to a place like Stanley Marketplace, I think it’s incumbent upon us as a community to make sure that reading is at the forefront of that,” says Spearman. “If you can get someone who’s young to fall in love with reading, that’s going to disproportionately positively affect their life. It’s just an incredibly lucky opportunity for us.”

Tattered Cover Kids is open Sunday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.