Former lawyer buys The Bookies, half-century-old Denver bookstore

Kirstin Gulling is making good on a dream she had as a law aspirant in the early s owning a bookstore The former lawyer will write the next chapter of The Bookies the Denver bookstore staple that Sue Lubeck opened in It s exciting in all the tactics especially because I have something to build on the first-time bookstore operator reported There s a talented area of people who already work and visit here Gulling bought the retail shop from Nicole Sullivan who took over ownership in after Lubeck died Sullivan moved the store from Glendale to its current -square-foot location at S Holly St in the Virginia Village neighborhood last year and had been looking to sell the store since March Neither party disclosed the price of the deal The hard work of turning the business around is mostly behind us commented Sullivan who also owned BookBar in the Berkeley neighborhood before closing it in The next step is to grow sales and get customers in the door and back in the door I think Kirstin s going to be really good at that New resource fresh pair of eyes and also hands-on Sullivan still owns the store s real estate which records show she bought for million in She will lease the space to Gulling and The Bookies which she commented does around million in sales annually Gulling declared she wants people to find a third place in the public something bookstores have been throughout her life When she was attending law school at the University of Michigan the original location of the now-shuttered Borders was a refuge when she was coming out as lesbian she disclosed Amazon Bookstore Cooperative the acclaimed Minneapolis feminist retailer was also a pivotal spot for Gulling It s been hugely crucial to my identity and this opportunity is the perfect marriage of that and what I did when I was raising my five kids she explained noting that she homeschooled two of them The Bookies mission fits right into that as well she commented You have this long legacy of the bookstore being for educators and young children and under Nicole s leadership into more of a locality space Gullling disclosed It s my society I live down the street literally over a mile away and I would love to help it expand on what Nicole has already done here She announced not much will change in the short term for the space She plans on retaining all staffers and to continue holding author events book clubs and an upcoming teen writing summer camp The biggest switch up she revealed will be on the shelves where Gulling will add a used-book section She also plans to rearrange them to make more nooks for people to hang out The focus first is going to be to merely ask people what customers want she noted noting that she s already surveyed employees My vision is to keep The Bookies a warm welcoming place Since taking over Bookies in Sullivan commented she s done a lot of work on the store s back end to bring it up to the st century She shifted ordering budgeting and other systems to electronic platforms She also revealed she got rid of stale inventory and expanded the adult titles section The biggest change though was moving the store from a corner of a strip mall to a stand-alone building Though expenses stayed more or less the same margins have improved from to during her four years she reported in part because the move gave The Bookies more visibility Related Articles Distressed Aurora office complex sells at auction for M Colorado among states to sum win in funds for electric bus charging Owners dustup turns to legal duel at Little Bear Saloon in Evergreen St Charles Town reopening store pumps at former Colfax Choice Sphere Colorado s Willy Wonka of cheese made pizza more affordable for the masses Despite the positive signs though Sullivan noted she considered herself more of a bridge owner When wellbeing complications and other family obligations piled up she knew it was time to sell Once we moved into the new location I still had a lot of things I demanded to do greater part of it being cosmetics but our lives have changed so drastically in the past year there was no choice she stated Now that everything is spelled out in instructions for the owner to operate the entire business Sullivan is confident that Gulling is the right person for the job This place has been around for a little over years and my main goal is to have it go for another years commented Gulling whose purchasing shell company was literally named More Years I m open to trying everything to make this place stick around This story was originally published on BusinessDen Get more business news by signing up for our Financial system Now newsletter