Interview with Kim and Scott Innocent, owners
Q: How did you get involved in this business?
A: It’s all for the love of reading! We have always had a passion for reading and hanging out in the bookstore atmosphere. We wanted to share that passion with everyone and open a community bookstore. A place where people can gather and hang out. We decided to leave behind our previous careers in Pennsylvania (Kim’s in healthcare administration and Scott’s as a private chef) and moved to Colorado in August 2015 with a 26-foot Penske truck filled with books.
Q: What distinguishes you from other businesses in your category?
A: Our bookstore is focused on used and recycled merchandise. Our book inventory is 95 percent used. We also have used vinyl albums, DVDs, board games and puzzles. Our gift section is primarily the only new merchandise that we have. We obtain our inventory through fundraisers, book sales, estate sales and through customer donations. We issue store credit to customers who provide donations. We are also opening a cafe/coffee bar in the store in the next several weeks.
Q: What do you like best about your line of work?
A: Meeting all the community members and local authors, and having the opportunity to be involved in community efforts. We are both are on the board for Mountain Reads (an adult literacy outreach program), members of Blue Spruce Kiwanis Club and Kim is on the board of the Evergreen Downtown Business Association. Of course, having access to over 14,000 books is also amazing!
Q: What is your business’ biggest challenge?
A: Keeping up with incoming inventory. When we first opened in October of 2015, we had approximately 8,000 books. We now have over 14,000. We are rapidly expanding our bookshelves and still keeping the open-space atmosphere. We are glad that we chose to purchase a booksellers software program so that everything is inventoried. We are working on organizing our overflow stock so that items are easily retrieved from storage and, if a customer doesn’t see it on a shelf, we know exactly where it is and can locate it while the customer is in the store.
Q: Something people might be surprised to learn about you or your business:
A: Something that you would be surprised to know is that Scott’s heart is backward. He has a congenital heart condition called “corrected transposition of the great vessels.” Less than 1 percent of the population has this condition. He has already had several heart surgeries and we know that sometime in the future that he will need a heart transplant.
Profile
Business: Where the Books Go
Address: 27888 Meadow Drive, Unit F, Evergreen
Hours: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. daily
Founded: 2015
Contact: 303-284-6261; go
Employees: 2
