Explore Books, a favorite destination for visitors and locals alike, has been an institution in the Aspen community for 50 years. We strive to provide our visitors with a marketplace of ideas, both written and spoken.
We offer a large and diverse selection of books , including robust literature, biography, history and politics, nature and science and self-help sections and a wide array of regional books, books by local authors, an entire room dedicated to children’s literature. We take advantage of every nook and cranny of our 137 year old home to showcase our titles, and we've recently upgraded our second floor solarium and our front patio so you can sit a while and start your next great read. As Washington Post book critic Ron Charles said, “Explore is the kind of idealized place that makes a person think he should cash out his retirement savings and open a bookstore in a small town”.
We also host free educational and cultural programming, partner with community organizations and provide a lively and comfortable space for community building and civic engagement - where locals and visitors can gather together, share ideas, learn something, and fully embrace the Mind, Body, Spirit ethos that makes Aspen so special.
We would like to extend our utmost gratitude to the Aspen Community, as well as the Roaring Fork Valley, for its years of faithful support. We also thank our loyal visitors who support Explore Books each time they visit Aspen. We feel honored to be embraced by such a wonderful and international group of book-lovers and knowledge-seekers.
Explore is a project of the Center for Public Interest Research, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and donations to support our independent bookstore are tax-deductible. Please note that all financial information shown in our documents reflect CFPIR's overall standing, not specifically Explore's.
More than a bookstore, Explore is an intellectual gathering place that embodies the Aspen spirit - where books, ideas and the free-flowing conversation they initiate are part of the environment.
Independent bookstores play a special role in the fabric of every community. We aim to provide Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley a needed “third place”, away from home and work, for community building and civic engagement - where people from all walks of life can come together and share in a marketplace of ideas. As the poet Ross Gay wrote: “A good little bookstore… is a laboratory for our coming together.”
Explore Books was founded by Katharine Thalberg in 1975, and was purchased by its current non-profit owners in 2015.
Why did a non-profit buy an independent bookstore? In the words of our Chair, “we specialize in lost causes. We’re the most logical group to keep a bookstore going. Books and ideas are about as subversive as it gets."
Organization name
Explore Books
other names
Center for Public Interest Research
1975
Tax id (EIN)
04-2863170
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, Community Improvement & Capacity Building, Education
Organization Size
Large Organization
Address
221 East Main StreetPitkin County, CO, US