Off The Beaten Path Is Right on Track

In the late 1980s, while living in Los Angeles and working at a corporate job, Dick Ryan noticed a classified ad in the Wall Street Journal for a tiny bookstore located in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Neither he nor his wife, Leslie, had ever been to the small ski town but within months Dick had negotiated an early retirement package, and the couple had packed up and moved to Steamboat Springs. In 1988, the Ryans became owners of the 760-square-foot Boomtown Bookstore, which they would eventually move, expand, and rename Off The Beaten Path.

Behind every impulsive spouse often stands a more judicious one, and in the case of the Ryans' move, it was Leslie who needed some persuading. She told BTW that she was finally convinced by Dick's argument that life is too short to defer dreams, so they moved to Steamboat Springs and she has never looked back.

In 1990, when the bookstore's lease expired, the Ryans moved into the current 4,000-square-foot space, which they had built to accommodate the bookstore and a cafe, and renamed the business Off The Beaten Path. At first, the cafe served only coffee drinks and baked goods, but the clientele lobbied for complete lunch service, which the Ryans added. In 2004, the Ryans created a wine bar within the cafe, which swings into action at 4:00 p.m. everyday.

"It's been a great success," said Leslie Ryan. "Our primary customers are middle-aged women who don't like the atmosphere of bars. They come here for a quiet glass of wine and to read."

An attraction for patrons of all ages, said Ryan, is the store's free WiFi access.

Off the Beaten Path opens at 7:00 a.m. for the coffee and breakfast business, does a good lunch business, then changes the atmosphere later in the day -- a shift Ryan describes as creating more of a "wine bar feeling." The store remains open until 9:00 p.m., offering a comfortable meeting place for friends, book clubs, and other groups.

The store's most successful events are its poetry slams, Ryan told BTW. "We draw about 50 people, every six weeks. The winner hosts the following one."

Enticing nationally known authors to the Rocky Mountain town of 8,000 has always been difficult, according to Ryan. The community solved that issue with the annual Literary Sojourn, celebrating its 15th year this October. The nonprofit event, organized under the auspices of the public library, features five well-known authors and draws yearly audiences of 500.

Off the Beaten Track, an event sponsor, contacts all of the bookstores in the region when the authors are confirmed to give booksellers advance notice to stock the books. "We get a great response from publishers; it's pure worship by readers," Ryan said.

The store's staff of 20, mostly part-timers, are very involved and enthusiastic, said Ryan. "We have a lot to do keeping up with Constant Contact, a MySpace page, a printed newsletter, and book fairs." Younger staff members had approached Ryan about creating the MySpace page. "They told me that [MySpace] was the only way to reach young people to publicize the poetry slams," she explained. "They take care of it. When our CD changer broke, [one young staff member] switched our whole sound system into a little I-pod."

Competition for the bookstore's business comes from the town's two giant supermarkets, Ryan said, "who have expanded to carry regional books as well."

To maintain a viable business, the Ryans have long participated in the Book Sense marketing program. "We're big believers in Book Sense," said Ryan. "We've [recently] dropped the New York Times Bestseller list and adopted the Book Sense list. Our customers like the [Book Sense Picks] handouts."

Ryan expressed satisfaction that with the experienced, responsible staff at the store, she and Dick can take evenings and many weekends off. In 2000, Dick, still reluctant to defer any dreams, decided to take his entire 67th year off and bicycle around the world with an organized expedition.

"Dick doesn't do things in a small way," mused Ryan. "They [World Odyssey 2000] left on January 1, 2000 from Pasadena at the Rose Bowl and returned on December 31, also at the Rose Bowl. I stayed home to mind the store. If we hadn't had e-mail, we wouldn't still be married." -- Nomi Schwartz