An Open Book - Boulder Bookstore
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the 1977 creation of the Pearl Street Mall, it’s worth remembering the businesses that have opened, thrived, and closed along Boulder’s main thoroughfare, as technology evolves and human desires shift.
In the 1860s and 70s, when Pearl Street was laid out in the new town of Boulder, the boulevard was crowded with horse stables, blacksmith shops, saloons, and brothels. A hundred years later, shortly before the street was closed to automobiles to create the pedestrianized mall, the predominant businesses were drug stores, hardware shops, and discount retailers, like Woolworths. Today, the Pearl Street Mall is filled with restaurants, honey stores, and Scandinavian outdoor clothing outlets with hard-to-pronounce names.
Notwithstanding those comings and goings, one downtown constant has been the bookstore. As early as the 1870s, there were several bookstores in downtown Boulder, including Stone’s Bookstore, the Post Office Bookstore, the City Bookstore, and Sawyer’s Bookstore, not to mention stores up on University Hill selling college textbooks. In 1877, Amos Bixby, the editor of Boulder County News, wrote, “If loafing is ever excusable, it is in a bookstore.”
However, in the 1960s, the proliferation of indoor shopping centers where people bought books in department stores was said to foreshadow the demise of the independent bookseller. By the 1990s, the rise of big-box book emporiums, like Borders and Barnes & Noble, seemed to guarantee that mom and pop bookstores would close forever. A few years later, the introduction of Kindle and other e-readers appeared to spell the end of the printed page.
All those predictions turned out wrong. Just look at the Boulder Bookstore. Opening his store in 1973 on a dying Pearl Street, four years before the creation of the pedestrianized mall, then 27-year-old founder David Bolduc knew that he was taking a risk. But he also understood what people wanted, and he was confident that they would come back for more. They have. For 52 years.
“In the early days, one of the bestsellers was The Joy of Sex,” David recalls about that 1972 controversial and groundbreaking book, which came out right before he started the Boulder Bookstore. “I ordered 500 copies at a time. It was very popular. Customers wanted us to wrap the book in a bag so people wouldn’t see them walking out of the store with it.”
David’s first bookstore on Pearl Street was a few doors down from its current location. He shared the space with a Mexican import store in the back and a plant store in the basement. The new bookstore had five employees and ten bookcases, hand-built by the store manager.
Fifty-two years later, David and his wife, Helena, are still using those hand-built bookcases in the Boulder Bookstore. But you’d have to look hard to find them in today’s 20,000 square feet of space across three floors, spanning three buildings at the corner of Pearl and 11th Street. With 40 employees to help you decide among 100,000 titles, you’d be hard-pressed to
come up with a topic the Boulder Bookstore doesn’t cover. They even still sell The Joy of Sex, although it’s probably now safe to carry that book out of the store without a bag.
In addition to a few thousand copies of Joy, David and Helena estimate that, over the last half-century, they have sold more than ten million books at the Boulder Bookstore. An 1890s ballroom now incorporated into the store has hosted book signings and readings from the likes of well-known authors such as Allen Ginsberg, Barbara Kingsolver, Anthony Doerr, TJ Klune, and R.L. Stine.
However, David is also proud of launching local writers, like Laura Pritchett, Peter Heller, T.A. Barron, and Stephen Graham Jones. (I just finished writing my first book, The Assassin’s Girlfriend, which I hope to premier at the Boulder Bookstore soon.)
David believes that bookstores are now more important than ever. “Democracy is in danger,” David observes. “It is a very fragile institution. We can save it through education. Bookstores prompt conversations. At the Boulder Bookstore, we are not afraid to have authors who are controversial. We want to bring those authors to Boulder. There is a feeling that this is a safe place. People can say what they want to say.”
But it’s more than having discussions about controversial topics, Helana believes. Bookstores are also about community. “We all seek the company of those who share our interests,” Helena says. “There's immense value in overhearing a conversation that might inspire us to explore an author or book category we'd never considered. In our digital age, the camaraderie of readers is invaluable. Not through a digital review, but in the richness of a live discussion about a topic or an author.”
David chuckles about the predicted demise of bookstores, prevalent a few years ago as e readers took off. “People are reading paper books more than ever,” David says. “Somehow, it’s a way to connect. Sometimes that’s a connection to the past. It seems more safe, more human.”
He remembers the debate over the creation of the Pearl Street Mall in the mid-1970s, when his bookstore had been open on the street for only a few years. “I was involved in the process of designing the mall with Richard Foy and Henry Beer. Their office was across the street, and they would come over and ask my opinions.”
“I tried to sell the idea of the Mall to my neighbors on the street. We even got a petition signed by people in support. There was resistance from some of the older businesses. I tried to talk with people about how this would be good. Some of them had fear of the unknown. But Pearl Street wasn’t doing very well back then. When you’re going out of business, you’re willing to take chances.”
And, of course, the Pearl Street Mall was a success. “People came downtown to see what it was all about,” David recalls. “After the Mall opened, businesses grew overnight.”
David says that today he sees a higher concentration of local people on Pearl Street, now that some of the large, covered shopping centers—like the Crossroads Mall—have closed. But he
also sees a lot of out-of-town visitors. “It’s not unusual to walk around the store and hear three or four languages spoken.”
As the Pearl Street Mall prepares to turn 50, Helena and David reflect on what they hope for bookstores—and for society—over the next 50 years. “The possibility of finding that one book that will forever change your life is what makes bookstores essential,” Helena says. “This deeply personal experience, unique to each individual, thrives amidst the vast choices available under one roof, drawing people in.”
David agrees: “I hear stories about people who read a book that helped them get through life. I think it’s an important role for bookstores to play.”
But David feels that survival of bookstores is not just about preservation of the printed page. “I don’t believe we can take things for granted, around our democracy and around our freedom. That includes our freedom to read what we want. Literacy is important.”
Interview Courtesy of Bob Yates.
