The Read Queen Bookstore and Café has officially opened in Lafayette, Colo., after a four-month delay because of the coronavirus pandemic and construction, Colorado Hometown Weekly reported.
Owners Barbra Huntting and Deirdre Appelhans last year bought the inventory and naming rights to the Book Cellar in Louisville, Colo., which had closed in 2019. They then changed the name and moved it to Old Town Lafayette to a site they renovated.
"We wanted to start with a soft opening so we could work out the kinks," Huntting told the paper. "We had hoped to open in February, and just as the day was about to approach, there were a couple minor construction things with the building."
Those items were more time consuming than expected, and then the pandemic hit. "And we couldn't have more than one or two workers in the building," she continued. "It just extended everything."
The store offers new and used books, a café and has an indoor patio and front porch. During the time it was closed, it sold some books online via Bookshop.org as well as allowed customers to pick up some books at the store. "It's saved them on the shipping and has become a big part of our business," Appelhans added.