Colorado Bookstores Suffer Minimal Flood Damage

Though last week’s torrential rain in Colorado’s Front Range led to catastrophic flooding across 17 counties, the worst damage to Colorado booksellers has been in lost sales.

Macdonald Book Shop in Estes Park was forced to close its doors for four days, from Thursday to Sunday, as residents were told to evacuate the area. Some water and mud entered the bookstore’s front room, but physical damage was minimal, said store president Paula Steige.

As residents were slowly allowed back into Estes Park on Monday, Macdonald Book Shop was given approval by the town to reopen. Many of the main roads are still closed, however, and non-residents are not being allowed to enter the area. As Macdonald Book Shop relies heavily on the tourist trade, this has been particularly damaging to sales. “The hardest thing is that we don’t know how long it will take for the town to clean up and start letting people back in,” said Steige. “But we’re lucky. Our store is not damaged and staff is all safe.”

Members of the community have pitched in to help the bookstore in a number of ways, with some volunteers shoveling mud away from the store’s perimeter. Steige has also heard from all of the store’s publisher reps, who have been extremely responsive and helpful, she said.

Aside from a few leaks in the store’s roof, Boulder Book Store suffered no physical damage. “Downtown Boulder came out okay,” said head buyer Arsen Kashkashian, but business suffered as the city was shut down from Thursday to Sunday. The bookstore remained open for shortened hours except for Friday, when it closed completely. On Saturday, Boulder Book Store held a scheduled event featuring Philip and Erin Stead that was not as well attended as it would have been under normal circumstances. Still the author/illustrator couple were “very gracious,” Kashkashian said, and completed the event before a small audience.

Kashkashian believes that the weekend of lost business will likely result in a 15 to 20 percent decrease in typical September sales. “It’s definitely going to be felt,” he said, adding that the store is waiting to hear if a Yoga Journal conference scheduled for next week in Estes Park will be held, since it is a major offsite event for the bookstore. If it is canceled, “that would be a big hit for us,” he said.

Tattered Cover Book Store reported only a minor leak in one of its locations, but there was some flooding in the streets surrounding Denver, which made for a slow weekend. Tattered Cover’s three stores maintained their normal hours of operation, however. “The sun came out today so it feels a little more normal,” general manager Matt Miller said early this week.

The Bookies and Mentor Books, which are also in Denver, reported no damage. “I’ve never seen Boulder like this,” said Sue Lubeck, owner of The Bookies. “So we were lucky.”

Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, closed early on Friday, since no one was coming into the area, but the store was not damaged and business seemed to resume early this week as the sun finally came out, said manager Kelsey Myers.

Between the Covers Bookstore in Telluride was not affected by the flooding.

In light of the Colorado flooding, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) issued a reminder that assistance is available to help bookstore employees with immediate needs if they are forced to evacuate their homes. After an emergency has passed, Binc may also be able to help with repairs that are needed to make homes habitable and/or loss of income due to a bookstore’s storm-related closure.

Binc may be contacted by phone at (866) 733-9064 or e-mail at [email protected].