Tattered Cover’s LoDo store to relocate to McGregor Square

Tattered Cover’s popular Lower Downtown location will relocate to a mixed-use center near Coors Field.

Since 1994, the Tattered Cover bookstore at 1628 16th Street Mall in Denver has been open, selling books to locals and visitors alike. Nearly 27 years later, Len Vlahos, Tattered Cover’s co-owner and CEO, announced the iconic location will be relocating to McGregor Square, a new multiuse development being built adjacent to Coors Field.

Tattered Cover’s new location will be at 20th and Wazee streets, occupying nearly 7,000 square feet on the first two levels of the private residence building of McGregor Square. The store will feature a grand staircase as an homage to the chain’s original store location in Cherry Creek.

In a statement announcing the relocation, Vlahos said the move will contribute to the store’s longterm growth and success.

“This move, when combined with our existing satellite store in Union Station, will ensure we continue to have a significant presence downtown for many years to come,” Vlahos said.

“With a high-rise condo and high-rise hotel in the complex, not to mention restaurants, a sports bar and more, we expect there to be built-in traffic. Add that to neighborhood traffic, visitors to the ballpark and our existing customers, and you get a recipe for success,” he added.

Tattered Cover is among the first retailers to announce a tenancy at McGregor Square. The locally owned store will add a familiar aspect to the new development, which is set to bring new urban retail and restaurants, a food hall, multifamily development, a 176-room hotel and office spaces downtown.

“Tattered Cover has been quintessentially Denver for 50 years, and it is exactly the type of retail partner we were hoping to have at McGregor Square,” Dick Monfort, chairman and CEO of the McGregor Square development group as well as owner, chairman and CEO of the Colorado Rockies, said in a news release.

The 655,000-square-foot development will span one square block bound by 20th, Wazee, 19th and Wynkoop streets. Architect Stantec designed the project, and Hensel Phelps is the general contractor.

The square, including Tattered Cover’s new location, is set to open in early 2021.

Featured in CREJ’s May 20-June 2, 2020, issue