Each new employee was instructed, while at a cash register, never to proclaim their love for a book being purchased, or how that book had changed their life. There was careful attention to every interface between customers and the store. The store had the gentle buzz of a large library as staff helped customers find the perfect book. Staff provided prompt attention in soft voices that indirectly coaxed customers to speak more softly themselves. Antique furniture, hand-picked by Joyce, and bookcases, in the beginning made by her father, were carefully arranged to create private spaces and cozy hideaways.

She blended her own love of books and authors with the culture of Denver to create a casual atmosphere that was unique to the city. Joyce created an ambiance in the Tattered Cover that felt almost like an extension of one’s home. In a time when female entrepreneurs were rare, she coupled extreme humility with a quiet assertiveness, a rare combination. What stands out most was her endless persistence in the pursuit of what mattered. Like all great entrepreneurs, Joyce had an insatiable curiosity and the capacity for careful observation. She was ambivalent about whether “Tattered” was the best name for selling glossy new books, but over more than four decades she transformed that humble store into what the New York Times ultimately called “the best bookstore in America.” In 1974, she purchased a small 950-square-foot struggling bookstore in Cherry Creek called The Tattered Cover.

Joyce was a bookseller, but that label does not begin to do her justice. She was one of the great entrepreneurs in modern Denver, and her entrepreneurial instincts were matched by her ideals. She grew the Tattered Cover into an internationally recognized bookstore with multiple locations when she retired in 2017. Joyce Meskis, who made the Tattered Cover Book Store a national icon, passed away last December at the age of 80. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu

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