Congratulations to the Bookworm of Edwards, Edwards, Colo., which will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. The Vail Daily noted that "many things have changed in those 20 years, yet the core mission of the Bookworm has always stayed the same: to be a passionate, community-minded bookstore and cafe providing a unique shopping experience, atmosphere and event programming for locals and visitors to the Vail Valley."
Kathy Westover founded the Bookworm in 1996 with a van that traveled between coffee shops selling new books. She soon partnered with Neda Jansen to open a bricks-and-mortar location in 1997. In 2002, Nicole Magistro became a part-time employee, and by 2005 she had bought Westover's share of the business and became co-owner.
"After 10 years as a tiny bookstore, we felt that we needed to be at top of mind to our customers," Magistro recalled. "They needed good reason to visit us weekly--or even daily--rather than monthly.... It was 2007, and we'd been in business 10 years, but Amazon seemed to be solving the world's problems, and we saw a lot of colleagues closing up shop. I was in my 20s then and knew that it was critical not just to stay relevant, but to become indispensable to our community before it was too late."
Magistro then partnered with Eat! Drink! manager Kristi Allio, who bought Jansen's share of the Bookworm and construction began on a café, which has since expanded and, more recently, been remodeled.
"All of the owners of the store over the years--Kathy Westover, Neda Jansen, Kristi Feichtinger and myself--we all worked like dogs," Magistro said. "Failure just wasn't an option.... Today, I can say that my staff firmly believes in the power to build something great. They are the glue that keeps it all together. Each person who works at The Bookworm wants to be part of something special. This year will be a celebration of where we've come from and where we're going."