West Side Books, a Denver Highland mainstay, faces uncertain new chapter

The first thing you notice walking into West Side Books is the smell. It’s a good smell. It’s the smell of older books, stirring up memories of entering a small-town library where the head librarian knew your name and what you liked to read.

Customers of West Side Books in Denver’s Highland neighborhood know that feeling. Longtime visitors to the store at 3434 W. 32nd Ave. talk about owner Lois Harvey and the staff as friends who are ready to recommend new titles and guide them through the overflowing shelves of new and old books that one person likened to a treasure hunt. The store also sells rare books.

The yellow arrows on the floor pointing the way to the exit are handy.

“I look around and I go, ‘Oh, there’s a book I didn’t realize that I needed,’ ” said Michael Hester, who lives one block west of the store.

“It’s been my home bookstore for years,” said Jody Georgeson, who lives farther north. “Lois is always more than happy to talk about what we’ve been reading and what we like and what we didn’t. It feels like home.”

But the future is uncertain for the bookstore that has been a mainstay in a neighborhood that has changed significantly in recent years. Harvey, 72, plans to retire on Jan. 1. She started working in bookstores in Denver in the late 1970s and opened Capitol Hill Books on Colfax Avenue in January 1980. She sold it in 1995.

Matt Aragon-Shafi, the manager, wants to carry on Harvey’s work. The 36-year-old has been a fan of West Side Books since browsing its shelves when he attended nearby North High School. He has worked at the store for eight years.

“He’s the heir. He gets to take it and run,” Harvey said as she and Aragon-Shafi sat in a little nook at the front of the store. “Matt showed interest, enthusiasm, ability, intelligence and the ability to work hard. He’s very strong. He has a supportive husband.”

Harvey and her staff built up the online services to keep going during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when people stayed out of most stores. Customers can now roam through the narrow aisles to look for books or order them online. Aragon-Shafi has helped boost the store’s social media presence.

Harvey, however, acknowledged that keeping the doors open will likely mean downsizing and might require selling off parts of the business, such as the used-book collection. West Side Books’ rent recently more than doubled.

“Landlords can get Cherry Creek rents now, or property taxes are such that landlords have to push those limits because of what their costs are,” Harvey said. “If it weren’t for an anonymous donor, we wouldn’t even be able to say we could be here through the end of the year. That’s big. If you’re in retail and you don’t have those last four months of the year, you’ve just lost a lot of money.”

The building’s owners have said they want West Side Books to stay, but also have plans to develop the property, Harvey said. What portion of the current 3,200-square-foot space would be available for the store is unclear. A restaurant sits on part of the property.

Harvey said Aragon-Shafi faces the challenge of figuring out “how to keep it together.”

“He’s smart, he’s good. He will figure it out,” she added.

Is Aragon-Shafi ready for the challenge? “I’m as ready as I can be,” he said.

A neighborhood mainstay

Aragon-Shafi, who started in retail when he was 18, said he’s learned a lot about the book business from Harvey. He has learned to be more reflective, to think before acting and to reach out when he needs something.

And he’s learned about relating to customers in what is often a more close relationship than in other retail businesses. He’s optimistic about being able to stay in the store’s longtime home.

“We may have to downsize, curtail our inventory, see what the neighborhood wants of us,” Aragon-Shafi said.