Capitol Hill Books

This place is a treasure trove of books and the lady that runs.This shop is the sweetest lady i've ever met been here for twenty five years

Amazing bookstore with used books. The setup is nice so this place is like small museum. Good selection of art books and architecture books. The horror story section was also very interesting. They also sell DVD. I will definitely come back on my next visit to Denver.

Capitol Hill Books is a small, independently owned bookstore in Downtown Denver. The shop has a broad range of topics from general fiction, mystery, and romance to sociology, psychology, history, and LGBTQ+.nnIt’s tidy, well-organized, and welcoming.nnThis bookstore is woman-owned. It has been open for 42 years and has had three owners. Holly, the current owner, has been the proprietor of this shop for some 17 years.nnMetered street parking is available.

Capitol Hill Books may not be the oldest bookstore in Denver, but it's close. Many of its contemporaries are now gone: Together Books, Trilogy, the Bluebird Cafe, the Hue Man Bookstore, Muddy's, Murder by the Book. Step inside Capitol Hill Books, and it almost seems as though you've gone into the past… to a time when some of the older books on the shelves were new, and a time when Denver boasted many fine, quirky, and odd bookstores.nnI have been coming to this delightful bookstore since the early 1982 or 1983. Capitol Hill Books first opened its doors in 1981, founded by Lois Harvey, who has since moved across town to Westside Books. Lois ran the store for many years, and then passed it on it to her friend Valarie Abney, who eventually sold it to the current owner, Holly Brooks. As might be appropriate for a used book store, Capitol Hill Books retains clues, signs, and symbols pointing to the previous owners. I enjoy noticing these callbacks whenever I visit.nnOriginally one small room (and an occasionally utilized and rather medieval-seeming tiny basement), the shop gradually expanded to the three rooms that greet customers now. It's a good space, and well-used. The collection has spread out accordingly, and the store aisles are easy to navigate. There are humorous and entertaining touches everywhere, such as the bloody hand just noticeable above the horror books.nnInterestingly, and fittingly, the plan of these three rooms is the opposite of the old corporate bookstores, such as B. Dalton's and Borders and Waldenbooks. Those stores always carried the most popular titles in the back of the store, guiding customers through the sections that they otherwise might skip. At Capitol Hill Books, the popular fiction section is in the first room, right there near the entrance; the second room contains kids' books and metaphysics and other cool, strange books; the third and last room is for history, culture, and social studies. A little staid, if you ask me. I don't spend much time in the third room, but I always check it out just in case.nnThere are books of all kinds at this store, particularly my favorites – science fiction, mystery, classic literature, drama, poetry. There are even a few comics! The children's books are well-cultivated. There is one large and perhaps typically imposing bookcase that is filled with very expensive collector's items. Next to that, there's a shelf featuring inexpensive local chapbooks and zines.nnThe store has always had a great range of strange and wonderful postcards, under all its owners, and the Wall of Ephemera is on its way to becoming a local legend. This is a display of interesting notes and other compelling items found within the pages of books brought in for trade. That's worth visiting just in itself. But you'll always find one or two books to buy, too. Or more! That's how it is with me. Many of the best books in my own library at home have come from Capitol Hill Books.

best bookstore i’ve been to in a while. well organized and full of great books. not a single david baldacci or james patterson in sight.