The Read Queen Bookstore & Cafe – A locally owned, independent bookstore & cafe

“I love to read, the Queen she said, and in so doing I am well read.”

We are a locally owned and operated bookstore & cafe located in beautiful Old Town Lafayette, Colorado, right across from the WOW! Children’s Museum.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
We finally opened on June 20th, 2020, right at the turn of the summer solstice! Can’t think of a better way to welcome in summer than by opening our bookstore and cafe after so many months of hard work by so many talented people. Big shout out to our contractors, our wonderful landlords who have been very patient, and the Lafayette Urban Renew Authority (LURA) who have most graciously welcomed us to your fair city!

COVID19 Update

With an abundance of caution, we are following the county and city’s recommendations for physical distancing to ensure the safely of our customers and staff. Some basic rules for in-store shoppers:

Everyone must wear a mask that covers both your mouth and nose. If buying coffee or food, we ask that you wait until you leave or sit on the patio to enjoy.
No more than 10 people inside the store at all times. Please maintain a 6’ distance, including outside seating.
Please use our hand sanitizer upon entering.
Let us know how we can help you!

This is your neighborhood bookstore and we are looking for your feedback to make it as great as possible! Searching for a particular genre, author, gift item, card, game, tasty treat, etc? Let us know!

How you can you support us from out of state or from the comfort of your own home?

Click here to order books
shipped right to your home!

https://bookshop.org/shop/thereadqueen

We hope that you will support the newest retail location in your community through our online store https://bookshop.org/shop/thereadqueen for brand new books, puzzles, journals, etc. which will be delivered straight to your doorstep! It’s just like Amazon, but better, because the money you spend stays in your community and goes to an independent operator, the lifeblood of any business community.

We are seeing huge interest in a number of titles which are currently back-ordered, so if you are interested you can download these titles as audio books via our store on Libro.fm at

https://libro.fm/thereadqueen

It’s a great way to get what you’re looking for right away!

Our in-store inventory of used and new books, gifts, etc. is ready to go! Additionally, we have delicious espresso beverages, coffee, teas, Italian sodas, and tasty treats as well! We look forward to seeing you soon!

The Read Queen Team

The Read Queen Bookstore & Cafe
129 N. Harrison Ave, Lafayette, CO 80026

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What’s in a name?

“So, how do you pronounce ‘Read Queen’ – is it ‘Red‘ Queen or ‘Reed‘ Queen?”

Well, just as the Queen herself says:

“I love to read, the Queen she said, and in so doing I am well read.”

So the pronunciation is ‘red’ as a book must be ‘read’ in order to be a used book. It’s also an homage to The Red Queen of Lewis Carroll’s classic Through the Looking-Glass (the follow up to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), two of our favorite books.

In a quote all too fitting to our current times, Carroll’s Red Queen says “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”