But it will remain in the same spot it has occupied since 1999. And it is open for business.

It’s a testament to the resiliency of independent booksellers that the Highland institution has remained open, and a new independent bookstore in Uptown recently opened, in the face of pressure from national chains and buyers’ online habits. Trade organizations report rising numbers of new stores, a trend they say gained momentum as readers rallied to support local businesses when the pandemic hit in 2020.

While staying put, West Side Books & Curios has changed ownership. Matt Aragon-Shafi, the former manager, has taken over the business from Lois Harvey, who retired in February after more than 40 years as an independent bookstore owner in Denver.

Aragon-Shafi and Harvey have mixed emotions about their new roles. Aragon-Shafi said moving from an employee to owner feels good. “But it’s overwhelming in a way.”

Harvey turned in her keys to the building at 3434 W. 32nd Ave. on Feb. 3.

“There was a certain amount of relief,” Harvey said.

She oversaw the moving of roughly 40,000 books to go from a 3,000-square-foot space to the current 1,000-square-foot space at the front of the building.

“It had been so much work getting that done,” Harvey said.

But it’s sad “to see what had been built and dismantled,” she added.

West Side decided to scale back because the lease was set to significantly increase. Grant Gingerich bought the building in 2021 from Harvey’s brother, Jim Harvey. Gingerich said high commercial property taxes and increases in other business expenses necessitated raising the rent.

Gingerich said he wants to work with West Side Books to keep it in the neighborhood where he has another building up the street and has been part-owner of a local restaurant for about 18 years. He’s looking at using the space behind the bookstore for events and an adjacent vacant lot as community open space.

“My wife and I are dug in. This is our community,” Gingerich said. “There’s nothing more that I want than to have West Side Books thrive for another 25 years.”

Rising costs, the dominance of online behemoth Amazon in bookselling and disruptions during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic shook independent bookstores nationwide for years.

In Denver, a seismic event struck the bookstore scene in 2024 when the Tattered Cover, a nationally renowned independent bookseller, was sold to the Barnes & Noble chain. The 50-plus-year-old Denver store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023.

However, Harvey, who opened her first bookstore in 1980, said the market started evolving during the pandemic when local stores, with the help of industry organizations, started or expanded online sales. She said customers stepped up to support local businesses and protests of George Floyd’s murder boosted interest in reading about politics and culture.

“The bookstores I know of are doing well. I’m just so proud of them,” Harvey said.

The state of independent bookstores in the Denver area and the region is positive, said Heather Duncan, the executive director of the  Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. The organization has members in 14 states.

“Our membership is increasing every year fairly significantly. The (store) openings are outpacing the closings by far,” Duncan said.

The association has 82 members in Colorado. Not all independent bookstores are members. In a “good guestimate” of the regional growth of the local stores, or “indies,” Duncan said at least a third of the association’s 328 members opened in the past two years.

“I’ve been in the bookstore business for 40 years and this has been one of the biggest growth periods that I’ve seen,” Duncan said.

The American Booksellers Association, a national trade organization for indie stores, reported 3,281 member locations in 2025, up from 2,844 in 2024 and 2,209 in 2020.

Duncan agreed with Harvey that more people turned to books and wanted to stand behind local businesses when the pandemic hit. Right before COVID-19 broke out, Bookshop.org started. The platform is an online bookseller geared to independent stores and shoppers looking for an alternative to Amazon. As a certified B corporation, which meets certain social and environmental standards, it shares its profits with bookstores.

“That allowed a whole bunch of bookstores, especially small mom-and-pop stores, pop-up stores and mobile bookstores, to have this really strong web presence instantly where they could sell books online and ship them to customers,” Duncan said.

And there is “a whole bunch of young and demographically diverse people opening bookstores,” she said.

Harvey said younger people are increasingly reading physical books rather than scrolling on screens. They’re attracted to beautifully illustrated and decorated first editions and books of different genres, she said.

One bookstore maintains, one starts anew

As West Side Books maintains its foothold in the Highland neighborhood, a new independent bookstore has opened its doors in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood. The Denver Book Society officially opened Feb. 20 at 1700 Humboldt St, once the site of the well-known Strings Restaurant.

A partner in the new venture is not new to the indie scene. Kwame Spearman was CEO of the Tattered Cover when the store filed for bankruptcy. He and his current partner, Rich Garvin, made an unsuccessful bid to buy Tattered Cover out of bankruptcy.

Deciding to build an independent bookstore from scratch, Garvin bought a 9,000-square-foot building for $2.9 million. Besides the bookstore, the building houses two restaurants and has space for a third.

“I had spent all this time learning about bookstores. I thought I still really wanted to have a bookstore,” Garvin said. “I decided it would be good to have a building that you own to put your bookstore in because many bookstores fail because of the rent.”

Garvin moved from San Francisco to Denver after the pandemic started. He had retired from his business that organized conferences and managed events for large corporations. He met Spearman through a mutual friend.

While upbeat about the new bookstore, which has a children’s section and a coffee bar, Spearman acknowledged his last time in the business didn’t end well.

“I would say that my experience as CEO was probably ultimately one of the bigger failures I’ve encountered,” Spearman said. “I think over the past two years, there’s been a lot of time to reflect.”

Spearman and two other Denver natives, David Back and Alan Frosh, bought the Tattered Cover in 2020 as part of an investment team. The company struggled to compete with large retailers such as Amazon and the pandemic.

“I think that when we took on the business, it was a business that was on fumes and basically headed towards bankruptcy during a really difficult period,” Spearman said.

The owners opened new Tattered Cover stores in Westminster and Colorado Springs and completed the move of the Lower Downtown location to a new one in McGregor Square.

Spearman took a leave of absence as CEO in 2023 to run for Denver mayor and then stepped down ahead of an unsuccessful run for the Denver school board. Before then, some Tattered Cover employees made claims of bullying and ageism, allegations that Spearman denied.

In an email, Back, Spearman’s former business partner at Tattered Cover, disputed Spearman’s characterization of the business when they took over. He echoed employees’ complaints about Spearman.

Spearman, who attended Yale Law School and Harvard Business School, said he got back into the bookstore business faster than he anticipated.

“As long as I am in Denver, I am going to, in some way, shape or form, try to be involved in the local economy,” Spearman said. “I think the thing that separates really outstanding cities from OK cities is when you have a thriving local environment.”

Spearman and Garvin want to make the Denver Book Society a community gathering space. They have started board-game nights and are hosting book clubs. They’re partnering with the theater company at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on events at the store.

Garvin’s dog, Cooper, an Australian shepherd, is a kind of mascot for the store. A “Cooperish” mug of a dog is part of the store’s logo.

“I fundamentally believe the same thing I felt with Tattered Cover, that books are this unifier,” Spearman said. “They are this opportunity to create community. And we need a third space now more than ever.”

He and Garvin are encouraged so far by the response to the new store. They sold 1,500 books and 500 cups of coffee over their opening weekend.

Aragon-Shafi at West Side Books said the community has supported the business as it makes the transition in ownership. People volunteered advice and spaces to store items and books. They helped with such tasks as alphabetizing books.

Although the store has culled most of its used books, Aragon-Shafi plans to still sell some of the used and rare inventory that West Side was first known for. He said his opportunity to run a business is part of a family tradition.

“My dad owned a convenience store for a long time. My grandpa owned an import store when he came here from India,” he said.

Aragon-Shafi also feels he is entrusted with keeping the beloved community bookstore going. He was a regular at West Side since attending nearby North High School.

“I see other bookstores that have been here for years and years, and I want us to be here for years and years.”

Updated March 6, 2026, to add comment from former Tattered Cover co-owner.

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The 68-page report, released last week in collaboration with Denver’s Economic Development and Opportunity office, draws on survey responses and direct feedback from scores of restaurant owners and real-estate brokers.

The survey and report, commissioned last year by the city, tourism board Visit Denver and Austin-based restaurant financier inKind, were the product of a months-long study led by industry professionals Dana Query and Adam Schlegel. The report refers to the local food scene as being at a “critical inflection point” with costs rising faster than revenue.

Many of those surveyed said homelessness, loitering, drug use and public nuisances, along with protracted and intensive municipal construction projects, deter customers from visiting establishments. Restaurants have resorted to reducing the number of days they’re open for lunch or winding down earlier at night, according to the report.

The report’s findings also addressed the costs of labor due to the rising minimum wage, and called for the city to match the state’s base wage for tipped workers — a conversation now underway at Denver City Hall.

Denver’s minimum wage is $19.29 an hour, or $16.27 if that employee is tipped. Colorado’s minimum wage — if no local minimum applies — is $15.16 an hour, or $12.14 with tips.

Hourly labor costs in Denver increased by 50% to 55% between 2019 and 2024, the survey found. The report attributed that increase to the local minimum wage rising during that period and outpacing the state’s minimum wage, as well as state credit given to restaurants with tipping that has remained the same.

The survey found a 23% increase in the median commercial rental rate since 2019. The cost of goods, insurance and utilities rose by about a fifth, according to the report. Restaurant owners reported their earnings dropping by approximately the same amount in that period.

“The data make clear that Denver’s restaurants are facing an environment in which overhead and labor costs, demand, employment and operating conditions are misaligned in ways that cannot self-correct without intervention,” the report’s conclusion says.

The report gives a small audit of each department involved in the process of opening a restaurant in Denver. The city’s excise and public health departments were well-rated for their professionalism, communication and turnaround times.

Other parts of the process, including acquiring permits for zoning and from the fire department, were critiqued for their inconsistent turnaround times. A majority of survey respondents said Community Planning and Development had a poor plan review process. Operators also had mixed opinions on the overarching enforcement of inspectors at Public Health and Environment.

The city’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, or DOTI, was seen as most deficient among operators and brokers. The report’s authors described the department as lacking in consistency. They mentioned procedures to receive right-of-way, sewer use and drainage permits as being the most difficult to grasp.

National brands interested in opening in Denver walked away from projects because of the long permitting period, according to brokers surveyed for the report. The report does not identify the brokers and restaurant operators, nor their businesses.

The report’s authors presented their findings to several agencies last month, Schlegel said.

“Nobody necessarily likes to be called out,” he said of local regulatory officials. “This is a group of people who see the opportunity, who see that there are ways there can be improvement and… equally want to be heard.”

The transportation and infrastructure office accepted the report’s comments Monday.

“This report provides clear-eyed feedback to ensure we’re meeting the needs of local businesses, and we have already gotten to work launching many of the improvements called for here,” DOTI spokesperson Nancy Kuhn said in a statement. “The report also provides a fair assessment of the challenges being experienced by the restaurant industry today and how we, as a city and a department, can support.

“It’s clear there is more to be done to ensure support for our restaurants, and we’ll continue to work on the recommendations the report contains.”

Restaurant operators acknowledged their own faults for lengthening the permit process, including by providing incorrect or incomplete information, according to the report. “Many explained that the complexity of starting a business or navigating construction requirements exceeds their expertise, making mistakes inevitable,” it says.

The report commends the steps that Mayor Mike Johnston and the city have taken to reduce homelessness and bolster tourism downtown.

“It’s a really good nod from the mayor’s office that they were willing to do this,” Schlegel said of the survey. “It’s really good that they wanted to actually bring people with true restaurant experience to have these discussions.”

Restaurant associations in Denver reaffirmed the concerns shared in the report last week.

“We’re grateful for everything the city is already doing to make it easier for restaurants to successfully navigate the permitting process, but there’s a lot more work to be done,” Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association, said in a statement. “There are simply too many regulations and too much red tape in Colorado for businesses to thrive, and we’d like to collaborate with city leaders to help streamline agency processes wherever possible.”

Representatives for about 160 restaurants were surveyed for the report, according to its executive summary. About the same number participated in roundtable discussions. Query and Schlegel held 50 interviews as part of their study.

One comment resonated with Schlegel from one of his first interviews for the project. The operator, he said, referred to Denver as the “city of ‘No.'”

“Do we want to be and can we be a city of ‘Yes?'” Schlegel asked.

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The James Beard-nominated bakery will soon relocate to a new storefront at 19865 Mainstreet, Suite 130 in Parker. With 2,800 square feet of real estate, Poulette Bakeshop will roughly double its footprint, making way for not only upgraded equipment that will bolster production of its signature pastries and confections, but also guest seating that allows patrons to linger, said co-owner Carolyn Nugent.

“It’s just such a big step for us finally to have a space that feels appropriate for our offering,” Nugent said of the new location, which is expected to open on March 11. “It’s an absolute dream.”

The upgrade is a natural next step after years of building Poulette Bakeshop from humble beginnings. Nugent and her husband, Alen Ramos, moved to Colorado in 2020 and began the bakery out of their kitchen. In 2021, they opened their first commercial space and have since put out pastries, breads and other treats that earn national acclaim.

Last year, the James Beard Foundation named Nugent and Ramos finalists for its prestigious award, in the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category. That nomination came just months after The New York Times dubbed Poulette one of the best bakeries in America.

Poulette’s new digs — complete with a bigger kitchen, larger walk-in cooler and upgraded ovens that have been fired up for about a week — will enable the business to increase production of its staples, such as macarons, as well as add new items to the menu.

“We’re looking forward to really ramping up our bread program,” Nugent said. “We did country bread for a while at Poulette, but because of the space that requires for fermentation in the walk-in cooler overnight, we completely ran out of space and had to really taper down our bread offerings.”

With the new amenities, including a dedicated deck oven for bread, she expects to start baking focaccia, baguettes, fougasse (French flatbread), country bread and more. Nugent also hopes to start an afternoon bread-baking window that allows locals to pick up fresh loaves between 2 and 4 p.m. each day. In the future, she hopes to use bread making as a launch pad to add sandwiches, toasts and other savory items to the menu.

After bread, Nugent wants to turn her focus to expanding the bakery’s line of confections to more regularly include things like chocolate slabs, caramels, gum drops and pâte de fruit, or French fruit paste. “Then we want to grow every program – grow the pastry program, grow the viennoiserie, grow the celebration cakes,” she said. “We want to be able to work to our full potential.”

Beard-nominated bakery could open on South Pearl as soon as next month

Beyond the bites, Nugent hopes the vibe will encourage visitors to sit and stay awhile at the new Poulette Bakeshop. Ramos spearheaded the buildout and worked to create a Parisian-style cafe aesthetic, complete with penny tiles and white and gold granite. There will be about 20 seats inside as well as an additional 20-plus seats on the outside patio. (The original bakery at one time had seating for guests, but the space was overtaken by the need to expand production, Nugent said.)

Though the bakery won’t offer hot coffee, guests are welcome to bring their own from a new coffee shop nearby called Marvin’s Place, Nugent said. Poulette will offer a selection of cold drinks, she added.

The original Poulette Bakeshop at 19585 Hess Road, #107, in Parker will remain open until its lease is up at the end of May, though Nugent said what exactly will be available there is still to be determined. One thing that won’t change as the business relocates is its emphasis on hospitality.

“We have really woven ourselves into the community, and we’ve done that by always focusing on hospitality, always focusing on a high level of service, obviously focusing on the product,” Nugent said. “You can make the best food in the world, but if the service is not good, it's meaningless in my opinion.”

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That was the year the Thornton Shopping Center first sprouted on a 15-acre parcel at the corner of East 88th Avenue and Washington Street. It was a marvel of post-war suburban America — complete with a Woolworth’s and Miller’s Market.

But time took its toll, rendering the strip mall a crumbling, blighted mess as the city exploded from fewer than 10,000 people then to nearly 150,000 today. The city acquired the property through eminent domain two years ago and tore it down to its asphalt origins.

Now Thornton wants to bring the site back to its former glory — but with a decidedly non-1950s twist.

“The overwhelming consensus in the community is that we need to have a gathering space,” said Thornton City Councilman Justin Martinez, who represents a southern chunk of the city where the former shopping center sits. “It’s an opportunity to create a core development that can live for 100 years, or longer.”

Thornton is not the first metro Denver city to face the challenge of injecting life into a commercial area long past its due date. Lakewood did it 25 years ago, when it replaced the dying Villa Italia mall with the Belmar Shopping District, and Centennial followed suit nearly a decade later when it redeveloped the enclosed Southglenn Mall into the open-air Streets at Southglenn.

Neighboring Westminster continues to build out its downtown project — with new shops, eateries and apartments on a 102-acre site that was once home to the Westminster Mall, which was demolished in 2011.

Thornton’s project has far less room in which to operate compared to those other cities, but neighbors have already weighed in on what they’d like to see — and not see: No car washes, gas stations, fast-food joints, sprawling parking lots or big box retailers.

Instead, residents and city officials envision smaller shops, sit-down restaurants or a food hall. A community garden, plazas and rooftop seating are also among the redevelopment options being pitched. New housing will likely be a major component of the revamped site.

“Retail has changed since the 1950s, so creating a sense of place is the main point,” said Adam Krueger, Thornton’s economic development director. “We want to work with residents hand-in-hand to see what their vision is for that site.”

To that end, the city organized a community meeting last month where residents were asked for overhaul ideas. The feedback included requests for a post office (to replace one that was there), a place to host outdoor movie nights and even an endpoint for a high school marching band parade.

The city solicited potential names for the project, which it will hand over to the council to make a final choice. It plans to issue a formal solicitation this year to test the appetite among developers to take on the challenge of breathing new life into the defunct shopping center.

“We want to get a developer to take this site and build the whole thing out according to their vision and our vision,” Krueger said. “It’s not about getting a big box retailer — there is a better fit with smaller-scale retail and that mixed-use product.”

Examples of successful metro Denver redevelopments Thornton is eyeing as inspiration include Belmar in Lakewood, Olde Town Arvada, Stanley Marketplace in Aurora and McGregor Square near Coors Field.

Krueger hopes to see construction at the site starting sometime in early 2028. But first, there is the small matter of clean-up at the site.

Workers last month began the process of digging up soils contaminated with spilled dry-cleaning chemicals — namely perchloroethylene — that have migrated over the decades into groundwater, posing potential health problems for adjacent neighborhoods. The state health department long ago ordered their cleanup.

“A lot of the soil in there is hazardous, and it’s gotta go,” Chad Howell, the redevelopment administrator for Thornton, told community members at last month’s meeting.

The city expects to complete the remediation work by the summer.

Kate Lucas, a planner with the EPA’s Technical Assistance to Brownfields initiative, has been helping the city with the Thornton Shopping Center redevelopment effort.

“A brownfield is any property with the presence, or perceived presence, of contamination that prevents it from being used for its maximum potential — or used at all,” she said. “I think that this site has been emotionally challenging to the community for the past 20 years.”

The TAB program uses federal grants to help communities tackle the challenge of assessing, cleaning up and preparing brownfield sites for redevelopment. And the former Thornton Shopping Center needed a lift following more than two decades of code violations, health orders, lawsuits and neighbor complaints.

The city finally forced the former owner’s hand by condemning the property and acquiring it under court order in 2024 for about $3.3 million.

Because the Thornton Shopping Center property is in the middle of a long-established neighborhood with plenty of potential customers, Lucas said it has a good chance to thrive in its new incarnation if done thoughtfully.

“There’s a lot of potential on this site,” she said.

There is enough potential that the site was chosen for the 2025 Rocky Mountain Real Estate Challenge, which featured graduate students from the University of Denver and the University of Colorado Boulder who were tasked with coming up with ideas for how to revive the troubled site.

DU’s students won the contest, with plans for 238 multifamily residential units in a “thoughtful site layout that prioritized walkability, activation and multimodal transportation.” The team identified an anchor grocer and a food incubator, brewpub and coffee roaster as potential elements of the new community.

It pegged the total cost of the overhaul at $96.8 million.

Krueger, the city’s economic development director, said the final cost will depend on the details of the project. But Thornton, he said, will look at tweaking the zoning at the site to “allow for more flexibility for a developer.”

“We’re trying to remove the barriers to the things we’d like to see at this site,” he said.

The southern portion of Thornton is less affluent than the north, which has “higher levels of household income as well as new homes and higher median home values,” according to a 2024 Thornton Housing Needs Assessment.

Martinez, the councilman, said he’s heard some concerns from residents living in “Original Thornton” — the area surrounding the shopping site — about the project gentrifying the neighborhood and pushing longtime residents out.

Martinez said the council will be vigilant about addressing those market pressures. Ultimately, he hopes the project has the opposite effect.

“We want to see the project spill over into the neighboring community,” he said. “I want to see this development as a catalyst to further improvements to the area.”

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It was over a year ago that Reunion Bread founder Ismael De Sousa had announced the bakery’s eventual relocation from the Source Hotel in RiNo to South Pearl Street in Platt Park.

He hoped to open his expanded store last May, he said Tuesday, seated in front of his existing shop inside the Source’s market hall. But it was a newly partitioned property without any plumbing or electricity, he said. A lengthy period of construction and permit approvals with the city of Denver would push back that opening date and tack on thousands of dollars in renovations.

The space, at 1240 S. Pearl St., is almost ready for business and could be open as soon as the end of March.

“This is just not the same Reunion,” De Sousa said of the new space, which is more than twice the size of his stall at the Source. “You’re in a bakery that feels a little bit like a restaurant.”

The pastry chef, 42, was born in Portugal and raised in Venezuela before he moved to the United States. Reunion sells goods inspired by these countries, such as the Nata, an egg custard tart popular in Portugal, and the Golfeado, a Venezuelan sticky bun.

The bakery drew a big rave in its opening year from Bon Appétit magazine, and De Sousa was nominated for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker at the 2023 James Beard Awards.

On top of De Sousa’s mind for his new location is the cold display case, which will allow his staff to make and refrigerate cakes, eclairs and other “cream-based things” he didn’t want to reveal yet.

He expects to make savory items, such as a focaccia-based pizza, and slowly introduce new pastries. Lastly, he said he hopes to acquire a liquor license to sell wine in the afternoons.

The building Reunion Bread is moving into is also the new home of Food Lab, a cooking school.

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But unlike an initial version of the law that was made public in December, the county will levy no fines on retailers for failing to do so — instead leaving any decision about punishment to a local court.

The first version of the law called for fines of $50, and all the way up to $1,000, for businesses that failed to report a crime. That caused some unease in the business community that Douglas County was overreaching.

Commissioner Abe Laydon said during the business meeting Tuesday that the ordinance was not meant to punish retailers but to keep the community safe.

“This is the most prosperous county in the state of Colorado — we don’t want us to become a target for organized crime,” he said. “When we tolerate organized retail theft, we normalize lawlessness.”

The latest rendition of the ordinance increased the time — from 24 hours to 96 hours — that businesses will have to report a theft. It also allows a retailer to report a crime via an online form rather than have police called to the scene.

That was enough to allay concerns from Chris Howes, the president of the Colorado Retail Council. In an attempt to make the measure more palatable to local businesses, he said his organization had some “fruitful discussions” with the county after the law was first unveiled.

“We don’t feel it punishes retail,” he said. “The focus on retail crime is overall going to be a benefit to us.”

District Attorney George Brauchler said he wants to get the message across that “we do not tolerate thieves.”

“If you come here to steal from us, plan on staying,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “Business owners and citizens alike should know that we will continue to protect their property rights.”

Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said the ordinance is aimed at combating the recent trend of retail outlets, especially large ones, not reporting crime on their premises. The measure holds employers accountable for policies that discourage the reporting of theft and that might result in retaliation against an employee who does report a crime.

“When corporate policies prevent or discourage the reporting of theft, it limits our ability to investigate, identify patterns and hold offenders accountable,” Weekly said in a statement. “(This ordinance) reinforces the importance of timely reporting and evidence preservation while focusing on corporate entities rather than individual employees.”

The new measure takes effect April 4.

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The City Council on Monday night unanimously approved a retail tobacco licensure ordinance on first reading. It aims to reduce underage access to tobacco products, like e-cigarettes and vaping cartridges, by stiffening fines on businesses that sell those products to people under age 21, while tightening rules on where tobacco retailers can set up shop in the city.

The ordinance would also cover sales of kratom and certain psychoactive hemp products to minors, and it would give the city greater oversight of hookah lounges.

The new law, which will be up for a final vote next month, would not ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, as was authorized by voters in neighboring Denver last fall.

“The primary concern for us is that these products are targeted towards youths,” said Trevor Vaughn, Aurora’s manager of licensing. “We’re addressing youth access to and usage of the products.”

It’s a move that Aurora Partners for Thriving Youth, a nonprofit coalition, has been advocating for.

“In Aurora, we have a problem with tobacco retailers selling tobacco to our youths,” said Alison Reidmohr, a member of the advocacy group. “It would improve the resources for doing age-compliance checks at retailers.”

Aurora Partners cites the 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey that found nearly 84% of Aurora youths who attempted to buy tobacco or vape products in stores were able to do so, despite not being of legal age. The city has about 340 tobacco retailers, and Aurora Partners says more than 100 of those outlets are within 1,000 feet of schools and recreation centers.

During Monday night’s council meeting, Joyce Baker, a respiratory therapist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, said that although many people view tobacco as a “problem of the past,” its main addictive component, nicotine, “has simply changed forms.”

“Today our kids are exposed to an entirely new generation of products — like disposable vapes, e-cigarettes, pods, nicotine pouches — that are designed to be discreet, addictive and appealing,” she told the council.

Baker held up a picture of a vape device that closely resembled a doctor-prescribed asthma inhaler, allowing for “stealth vaping” by underage kids.

‘Our kids are so addicted’

DeLisha Boyd, dean of students at Aurora’s Rangeview High School, told the council that responding to vaping has been “one of the biggest disciplinary actions we have to take” at the school. Students, she said, will often buy vape products in bulk and then resell them at school.

“Our kids are so addicted,” Boyd said.

Joe Miklosi, a lobbyist for the Rocky Mountain Smoke Free Alliance, an industry group that fiercely opposed Denver’s flavored tobacco ban, said his group was happy with Aurora’s proposed ordinance. His group advocates for 125 small vape stores in Colorado, 25 of which are in Aurora. Many of them are minority-owned, he said.

A sticking point was a provision in the initial draft of the ordinance that would have banned retailers from selling tobacco and vape products that the federal government hasn’t explicitly approved. That generated fear among vape shop owners that much of their inventory would be prohibited for sale, Miklosi said.

The provision was removed before the council voted Monday.

Miklosi said adults’ freedom to buy what they want must be protected, especially given the critical role vaping plays as a less harmful alternative to smoking.

As an odd contrast to Monday’s vote, Philip Morris International recently began ramping up production of its increasingly popular ZYN nicotine pouches at a new factory in Aurora, south of Denver International Airport. Aurora agreed to provide $7.1 million in tax rebates to the company while the Colorado Economic Development Commission approved $4.5 million in Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits, and Adams County has agreed to chip in another $4.3 million in incentives.

The company has hired about 120 of the 500 workers it plans to eventually employ in Aurora, which is the location of its second U.S. ZYN plant after one in Owensboro, Ky.

How ordinance would work

Aurora’s proposed ordinance cracking down on sales to young people follows a move by state lawmakers in 2020 to raise the minimum age to buy tobacco products in Colorado from 18 to 21. Aurora’s punishment for retailers that flout its new law will be tougher than the state’s.

A first violation is set at $1,000. A second violation will get a store owner a $2,000 fine and a seven-day suspension. And a third strike will raise the fine to $2,650 and the suspension to 21 days. A store that violates the ordinance a fourth time within three years will lose its license.

A license will cost a business that sells tobacco products $500 annually, which will help pay for two compliance checks a year by the city. Aurora projects the program will generate about $170,000 a year, with an additional $30,000 expected from fines.

The measure also sets new distance requirements to “prevent over-concentration of outlets,” according to a city memo. That would mean they could be located no closer than 1,500 feet from schools or 2,000 feet from another vape store. Existing retailers will be exempted from the spacing limits.

Under the proposed law, hookah lounges would have to close by 2 a.m. and would be required to prohibit alcohol consumption and illicit drug use on their premises.

It was just half a year ago that Aurora passed a sweeping measure banning the sale of an array of “gray market” substances and drug paraphernalia commonly found in convenience stores, gas stations, and smoke and vape shops. They included nitrous oxide, synthetic cannabinoids and poppers, a nitrate product that the Federal Drug Administration says is not safe to inhale or ingest.

Dr. Terri Richardson, a retired physician who is vice chairwoman of the Colorado Black Health Collaborative, said there was a higher concentration of smoke and vape shops in parts of the city where more ethnic and racial minorities live. And with pipes and other tobacco paraphernalia bearing cartoon characters and puppets — like Hello Kitty and Oscar the Grouch — as a major selling point, she said there’s no question who the industry is trying to lure.

“The manufacturer is telling you exactly who they’re targeting,” Richardson said.

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FedEx is suing the U.S. government, the latest company to request a refund on what it paid for tariffs set by President Donald Trump last year after the Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs are illegal.

More than 1,000 companies have filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade in efforts to recoup costs from the illegal tariffs, including large U.S. corporations like Costco and Revlon. Most of the lawsuits were already in process ahead of the Supreme Court decision Friday.

FedEx said in a filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade that they have “suffered injury” from having to pay the tariffs and that the relief they’re seeking from the court would redress those injuries.

Tim Meyer, a law professor at Duke University, said each case is likely to have to be tried individually.

“We’re going to have to wait and see how the government decides to handle the refund claims,” he said. “And then if the government chooses not to set up a process for the refunds, ultimately the Court of International Trade is going to have to adjudicate over a thousand cases.”

The National Retail Federation said in a statement on Friday that the Supreme Court’s ruling provided certainty for U.S. businesses and manufacturers.

“We urge the lower court to ensure a seamless process to refund the tariffs to U.S. importers,” it said. “The refunds will serve as an economic boost and allow companies to reinvest in their operations, their employees and their customers.”

The Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs on Friday. Trump said he was “absolutely ashamed” of some justices who ruled 6-3 against him, calling them “disloyal to our Constitution” and “lapdogs.” At one point he even raised the specter of foreign influence without citing any evidence.

The court’s ruling found tariffs that Trump imposed under an emergency powers law were unconstitutional, including the sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs he levied on nearly every other country.

The Treasury had collected more than $133 billion from the import taxes the president has imposed under the emergency powers law as of December, federal data shows. The impact over the next decade has been estimated at some $3 trillion. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New Yor k found U.S. businesses and consumers are paying nearly 90% of the tariffs that Trump has imposed.

Trump has vowed to collect tariffs through other means. He reached for a stopgap option immediately after his defeat Friday at the Supreme Court: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15% for up to 150 days. But any extension beyond 150 days must be approved by a Congress likely to balk at passing a tax increase as November’s midterm elections loom.

Tetra Lounge, located at 3039 Walnut St., was fined after a hearing last November in which it had to respond to allegations that violated several laws during special events it held on April 20 and July 10, both notable cannabis holidays.

The business has been ordered to pay $10,000 within 90 days and is effectively on probation for a year. If it incurs another violation, Tetra Lounge will have to pay an additional $10,000 and close for 60 days, according to a final decision issued Thursday by Molly Duplechian, executive director of the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection.

This is the first licensing discipline case for a marijuana hospitality business in Denver, according to department spokesperson Eric Escudero. Tetra Lounge owner Dewayne Benjamin said he plans to appeal the decision.

Last year, city officials issued Tetra Lounge an “order to show cause,” prompting a hearing in which the business had to defend itself and explain why its license “should not be suspended or revoked.” In the order and subsequent hearing, city inspectors said they visited the business on April 20 and July 10 of last year and witnessed unlawful activity, including the sale and sampling of marijuana onsite.

Opened in 2018, Tetra Lounge is what’s technically called a cannabis hospitality business; however, marijuana sales are not permitted under the conditions of its license. Instead, patrons bring their own weed and pay an entry fee to smoke on the lounge’s outdoor patio.

Inspectors alleged that cannabis consumption was happening inside Tetra’s building – which is not part of the licensed premise – and that vendors at both events were unlawfully distributing marijuana products. They said there were also booths selling psychedelic substances such as psilocybin and DMT, which is illegal. (One of the officials lost their position with the city after consuming a mushroom gummy on the job during the April 20 inspection. Technically, the booth was located outside of Tetra Lounge’s property.)

While the inspectors provided circumstantial evidence, such as pipes with burnt marijuana sitting inside Tetra Lounge and booths with listed product prices, they purportedly didn’t see sales transactions happening first hand, according to testimony presented at the hearing. One inspector was, however, told marijuana products were for sale. He also saw people congregating inside the space, which did not have a certificate of occupancy, on April 20.

Reached by phone Thursday, Benjamin denied the allegations and said media coverage of the enforcement action has caused Tetra to experience drops in event bookings, sponsorships and daily visitors.

This is not the first time Tetra Lounge has come under scrutiny from Denver officials. Although the spot operated as a private club for many years, allowing people to smoke inside, it was forced to close in 2022 after Denver changed requirements for what was then a new type of license for “marijuana hospitality” establishments. In 2023, Tetra was issued a ticket for not having the appropriate license.

Benjamin said this latest dispute “showcases the city is continuing their predatory and discriminatory behavior toward Tetra Lounge.”

In the decision, Duplechian said the fine was warranted because “Mr. Benjamin fails to take responsibility for any of the violations. He argues that because he did not personally commit the violations involving the sale or distribution of marijuana, that he should not be held accountable.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tariffs paid by midsize U.S. businesses tripled over the course of past year, new research tied to one of America’s leading banks showed on Thursday — more evidence that President Donald Trump ‘s push to charge higher taxes on imports is causing economic disruption.

The additional taxes have meant that companies that employ a combined 48 million people in the U.S. — the kinds of businesses that Trump had promised to revive — have had to find ways to absorb the new expense, by passing it along to customers in the form of higher prices, employing fewer workers or accepting lower profits.

“That’s a big change in their cost of doing business,” said Chi Mac, business research director of the JPMorganChase Institute, which published the analysis Thursday. “We also see some indications that they may be shifting away from transacting with China and maybe toward some other regions in Asia.”

The research does not say how the additional costs are flowing through the economy, but it indicates that tariffs are being paid by U.S. companies. The study is part of a growing body of economic analyses that counter the administration’s claims that foreigners pay the tariffs.

The JPMorganChase Institute report used payments data to look at businesses that might lack the pricing power of large multinational companies to offset tariffs, but may be small enough to quickly change supply chains to minimize exposure to the tax increases. The companies tended to have revenues between $10 million and $1 billion with fewer than 500 employees, a category known as “middle market.”

The analysis suggests that the Trump administration’s goal of becoming less directly reliant on Chinese manufacturers has been occurring. Payments to China by these companies were 20% below their October 2024 levels, but it’s unclear whether that means China is simply routing its goods through other countries or if supply chains have moved.

The authors of the analysis emphasized in an interview that companies are still adjusting to the tariffs and said they plan to continue studying the issue.

White House spokesman Kush Desai called the analysis “pointless” and said it didn’t “change the fact that President Trump was right.” The study showed that U.S. companies are paying tariffs that the president had previously claimed would be paid by foreign entities.

Trump defended his tariffs during a trip to Georgia on Thursday while touring Coosa Steel, a company involved in steel processing and distribution. The president said he couldn’t believe the Supreme Court would soon decide on the legality of some of his tariffs, given his belief that the taxes were helping U.S. manufacturers.

“The tariffs are the greatest thing to happen to this country,” Trump said.

The president imposed a series of tariffs last year for the ostensible goal of reducing the U.S. trade imbalance with other countries, so that America was not longer importing more than it exports. But trade data published Thursday by the Census Bureau showed that the trade deficit climbed last year by $25.5 billion to $1.24 trillion. The president on Wednesday posted on social media that he expected there would be a trade surplus “during this year.”

The Trump administration has been adamant that the tariffs are a boon for the economy, businesses, and workers. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, lashed out on Wednesday at research by the New York Federal Reserve showing that nearly 90% of the burden for Trump’s tariffs fell on U.S. companies and consumers.

“The paper is an embarrassment,” Hassett told CNBC. “It’s, I think, the worst paper I’ve ever seen in the history of the Federal Reserve system. The people associated with this paper should presumably be disciplined.”

Trump increased the average tariff rate to 13% from 2.6% last year, according to the New York Fed researchers. He declared that tariffs on some items such as steel, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities were in the national security interest of the country. He also declared an economic emergency to bypass Congress and impose a baseline tax on goods from much of the world in April 2025 at an event he called “Liberation Day.”

The high rates provoked a financial market panic, prompting Trump to walk back his rates and then engage in talks with multiple countries that led to a set of new trade frameworks. The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on whether Trump surpassed his legal authority by declaring an economic emergency.

Trump was elected in 2024 on his promise to tame inflation, but his tariffs have contributed to voter frustration over affordability. While inflation has not spiked during Trump’s term thus far, hiring slowed sharply and a team of academic economists estimate that consumer prices were roughly 0.8 percentage points higher than they would otherwise be.