Watch the alpenglow shine on the new bookstore in Glenwood Springs

Katherine Tomanek/Post Independent
The word ‘alpenglow’ refers to the glow of the sun near the summits of mountains, usually a reddish color from the sun rising or setting. This excellent word should be part of mountain residents’ vocabulary and it will be with the opening of Alpenglow Books.
Katie Hake and Spencer Chu are opening a bookstore adjacent to the Grand Avenue bridge, alongside other businesses like Kedai Pho and Bluebird Cafe.
“We feel like Glenwood Springs needs more retail in general,” Hake said. “We spend a lot of time downtown.”
They came up with the name while brainstorming because they wanted something to do with mountains, because Hake and Chu love mountains like Glenwood Springs and ‘alpenglow’ came up.
“A lot of people have been confused, like ‘oh, what is that?’,” Chu laughed.
They’re selling classics like “1984” by George Orwell and “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut alongside newer books like “A Deadly Education” by Naomi Novik and “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions” by Randall Munroe.
“We’re also going to be selling board games, puzzles, and little gifts,” Hake said, pointing to different places where they’re going to put their merchandise.
Chu also said they’re going to have a table in the back where people can put together a puzzle while they’re here.
“Like one piece at a time while they’re browsing,” he said.
Books and writing, Chu said, have always been in Hake’s wheelhouse. They thought about the idea of opening a bookstore for a few months in the spring and then decided, finally, to open up Alpenglow Books.
Hake is a photographer by trade, mostly focusing on landscape and nature and Chu is a software developer. He’s also a small business owner with his brother, so he had some background for opening the store.
“It’s very convenient, we have two different approaches,” Hake joked. “I’ll say, ‘We need to make this look this way’, and he’ll say, ‘I wasn’t thinking about that, but our entire spreadsheet of data has just been uploaded.'”
Hake and Chu met in college and have been married since 2021 and are both into the fantasy genre. They’ve been in Glenwood Springs for five years. Chu grew up in Kansas City and Hake grew up in a small town in New Jersey.
“I’ve been looking for another small town to move to and this is perfect,” she said. She said she might be the most aggressive driver in Colorado, because she learned how to drive on the streets of the eastern United States.
They’re excited to have another bookstore and are hoping people will love it too, as the only bookstores in Garfield County are The Book Grove in Glenwood Springs and White River Books in Carbondale. Otherwise, the next closest bookstores are in Edwards or Grand Junction.
Fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, history, cooking, scientific, SAT help, graphic novels and biographies are just some of the genres they’ll be selling next to their puzzles, games and gifts. They’re also looking to sell some writing instruments, like journals.
“We’ll hire some more people eventually,” Hake said. “It’ll just be the two of us at first.”
The two owners are also in discussions about having book clubs and other events at the bookstore once things get up and running.
“We’re excited to be here and we hope Glenwood is excited to have another bookstore,” Chu said. “We’re also very tired.”
Chu and Hake have been putting books into stacks and then putting those stacks on the wooden shelves along the walls of the bookstore, trying to get everything ready before their big opening on Saturday.
The new Alpenglow Books location at 720 Grand Ave. near the Grand Avenue bridge overpass and will be open on Saturday from noon to 7 p.m.

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