In a move that is being seen as positive, The Tattered Cover, Denver, Colo., one of the best known and most highly regarded independent bookstores in the country, has been sold by Len Vlahos and Kristen Gilligan to a group of investors headed by two local businesspeople with experience with startups and business management: Kwame Spearman and David Back, who are, respectively, CEO and chairman. The group is called Bended Page LLC and includes “national bookselling and publishing experts,” among them former American Booksellers Association CEO Oren Teicher and John Sargent, who is leaving Macmillan Publishers as CEO in January. Because Spearman, who is Black, is the largest investor and CEO, Tattered Cover has become the largest Black-owned bookstore in the U.S. (For more about Spearman and Back, who are longtime friends and entrepreneurs, see following article.)
