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Oskar Blues Brewing. Photo by Susan France.
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PHOTOS COURTESY INKBERRY BOOKS
Inkberry Inquiry The story behind Niwot’s new independent bookstore
by Sarah Tuff Dunn
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s professors at the University of Colorado Boulder, Gene Hayworth and Keith Waters know a thing or two about the written word. So when the chance arrived to open a new bookstore in Niwot, the couple went beyond the book in the era of big-box and online retailers, deciding to dedicate their free time to creating a community centered around consuming some of the 6,000 new and used titles the store carries. We tracked down the co-owners for the run-down on operating a bookstore. Q. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO OPEN INKBERRY BOOKS?
Hayworth: I’m a full-time librarian, a publisher and an author, and as you can imagine, books play a major role in my life. I grew up with five sisters and one brother in a rural community in North Carolina, and books were a luxury. The school library was my second home. It wasn’t until I left home as a firstgeneration college student that I discovered bookstores — for me that was cathartic. I developed an obsession for collecting books, and when we moved to Colorado in 1995, we traveled here with about 5,000 volumes. I realized that I had to do something. I opened an online store, but I realized at the time that online was not the best solution. A bookstore needs a community and a physical place to share ideas.
Q. WHY NIWOT?
Hayworth: When we first moved to Boulder, there were about 10 bookstores here. One by one, we have seen them close. Boulder still has Boulder Book Store and Red Letter Books, and Longmont has the two wonderful stores, Used Book Emporium and Barbed Wire Books. With its location between Boulder and Longmont, Niwot was a logical choice. I
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