Why Englewood's South Broadway Keeps Gaining Bookstores and Record Shops
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
A few doors on the 3400 block of South Broadway now hold most of what a slow Saturday needs. Mutiny Comics & Coffee at 3483 sells comics, used books, records and coffee, and it has a cafe bar. Kitschy Witch Vintage is across the street at 3494. Wapos Cantina is at 3495, and Sukiya Ramen is a block north at 3401. Mutiny, the anchor of that block, has only been in Englewood since 2024.
The cluster grew because of a specific move. This year it reached past the 3400 block in both directions, while the street outside was torn up for most of 2026.
Mutiny used to be the Mutiny Information Cafe, a book, record, comic and coffee shop at 2 South Broadway in Denver. It left that corner building in 2024 and moved south to Englewood. In May 2026, Denverite reported that real estate investor Jeremy Spira had bought the 115-year-old Denver building for $1.5 million. His first move was a free giveaway of the thousands of books Mutiny left behind.
"I think the whole neighborhood's kind of felt that loss," Spira told Denverite.
At the giveaway, Denver neighbors asked for another bookstore, a bodega, a music venue or a restaurant to fill the space. In Englewood, the shop they were missing was already running at 3483.
Others followed. Sold Out Vinyl held its grand opening at 3751 S. Broadway on March 1, 2025, according to the Denver Post. Its site says it's open seven days a week and sells new and used records, CDs and tapes. That made two shops on Englewood's Broadway selling used media within about three blocks of each other. When 2026 began, that was the base.
Both 2026 bookstores opened on a street with lane closures, sidewalk detours and moving work zones. The South Broadway Complete Streets project started on January 12 and runs on South Broadway and South Sherman from U.S. 285 to Belleview.
Merrick Brothers Books opened first, at 3978 S. Broadway on the east side between Mansfield and Nassau. Siblings Aaron, Will and Heather Merrick run it. It was already open when the Littleton Independent covered its grand-opening weekend, July 24 and 25. Opening hours were listed as Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Good Girl Cafe & Bookstore opened at 2807 S. Broadway on September 13. Owner Meg Garcia-Jahrman runs it as a romance-only bookstore with a cafe. In June, the Denver Post had forecast a July 11 opening. Construction and permitting delays pushed it back about two months. Westword's September 19 roundup lists coffee, baked goods and creative meetup groups. Hours as reported in mid-September are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. No Monday hours were listed.
Neither store opened on the 3400 block. Good Girl is about six blocks north of Mutiny and Merrick Brothers is about five blocks south. The browsing stretch on Englewood's Broadway now runs from the 2800 block to nearly 4000. A year ago, the used-media shops sat between 3483 and 3751.
Here is the stretch as a route, using only businesses open in 2026 per the reporting:
Two of the March 2026 restaurant openings, Sukiya and Wapos, landed on the 3400 block, and The Barn opened just north of it. Food also turned over at the south end. Westword's April roundup listed Pesto Italiano at 3999 S. Broadway as closed, one block south of Merrick Brothers. That leaves the south end of the route with books and no restaurant on the same block, based on what was reported this year.
Most of this year's openings happened during construction, and the work is now in its last stretch. The city's September 2 update says most west-side sidewalk light poles are done, with about six locations left. The southbound Kenyon bus stop has reopened. September's planned work covered median improvements at Mansfield, Chenango, Quincy and Kenyon. Mansfield is the cross street at Merrick Brothers.
The Oxford Avenue corner took longer. According to the city, an unforeseen site condition and a conflict with an adjacent building's foundation extended the schedule there. As of September 2, Oxford was in its final stage. The Badger reported on September 9 that the project was more than 60% complete, with substantial completion still set for December. That same week, City Council voted 5-1 for a $144,602 extension of Ulteig's construction-management contract. At that meeting, residents and businesses raised concerns about construction damage, traffic and crashes. Staff said the city would check in with businesses along the corridor.
Until the project wraps up, the city's EARN program pays up to 10% cashback at participating small businesses on the Englewood South corridor, double the usual 5%. You download the Open Rewards app, then link a card or upload a photo of your receipt. Rewards can be spent at other participating local businesses. The app's "Claim Rewards" tab shows which businesses take part, so check it before assuming a shop on this list does.
Two city-listed events on Saturday, October 10, fit this stretch. The Old School Cool Vintage Market runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Spaceship Building parking lot at 3501 S. Broadway. That lot is next door to Wapos and a few doors from Mutiny and Kitschy Witch. Later that day, Art in All Its Forms runs from 1 to 3 p.m. between Western Sky Bar & Taproom and BMO at 4361 S. Broadway. It includes local art, live mural painting, flash tattoos, music and interactive activities. You can start at the vintage market in the morning, walk south past Sold Out Vinyl and Merrick Brothers, and reach 4361 by 1 p.m.
The finished Complete Streets project will bring upgraded bus stops, ADA improvements, lighting, landscaping, wayfinding, shorter pedestrian crossings, and an on-street bike facility on South Sherman. A second phase is already being planned. The Englewood Downtown Development Authority's South Broadway Public Realm Action Plan covers 3.5 blocks from Little Dry Creek to Eastman. It proposes better sidewalks, crossings and lighting, plus seating, bike racks, native plantings, gateways and a festival street, with improvements targeted for 2027. On September 23, the DDA approved a contract of about $479,000 with Level 5 Collaborative to prepare for and oversee that work. The DDA's executive director described construction as a roughly 10-month, block-by-block effort and said business entrances and parking would remain accessible. The contract calls for maintaining accessible pedestrian routes and coordinating work around business operations, with a Level 5 business liaison doing door-to-door outreach.
Old Hampden is going a different way. On July 20, City Council voted not to award the construction contract for Old Hampden Complete Streets, and the city says the project won't move forward as planned. Any future work there would be handled as separate projects with community outreach.
If you live near this stretch and want to know how a walkable mile of independent shops shows up when homes nearby are priced, Ashleigh Fredrickson tracks Englewood block by block and can go through it with you. Start with an instant home valuation, and we'll walk through what your blocks of Broadway add to it.
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