If these walls could talk, they’d speak volumes about the guy behind the oasis of culture, counterculture and culinary delights that is the Poor Richard’s complex.
Former Colorado Springs vice mayor, environmental activist and businessman Richard Skorman has been feeding, entertaining and adding to our city’s literacy for half a century.
Skorman and his wife and business partner, Patricia Seater, will celebrate this milestone with a 50th Anniversary Celebration on June 8. The festive blowout will feature free food and cake, prizes, live music, kids’ activities — a bounce house, face painting and story time — and the sharing of memories.
They’ll also serve coffee for 10 cents, slices of cheese for $2.50 and gazpacho for 95 cents, the original prices from Poor Richard’s Feed & Read.
From Dumpster Diving to Poor Richard’s Feed & Read
Poor Richard’s Bookstore started in 1975 when Skorman was a senior at Colorado College. Now the complex includes Poor Richard’s Restaurant (a pizza parlor and sandwich shop), Rico’s Cafe (an espresso and wine bar), and Little Richard’s Toy Store.
Back then, Skorman had been working after classes at the nearby long-defunct Granite Harp Bookstore, which fell on hard times and could only pay him with books.
Skorman used those books, supplemented by some dumpster diving at the end of the semester at CC, to start the inventory for his own bookstore. He picked up ammunition cases from Surplus City for bookcases, and found a small space in a house a few blocks from campus to open his own bookstore.
While he was in class, he left the door to the store open with a sign, asking people to leave money for any books they took.
“People really did leave money,” Skorman recalls with a laugh. “Nobody ever stole anything.… Not sure that would work today in Colorado Springs.”
When he graduated, Skorman looked to expand beyond books. He became friends with Kimball Bayles, who ran the Trident cafe and bookshop in Denver and Boulder. Bayles, who would later become a key business partner, sold him remainder books for cheap and gave tips on mixing books and food service.
Skorman’s father in Akron, Ohio, who ran some of the country’s first discount stores, set him up with sinks and refrigerators.
With the new additions, Poor Richard’s Feed & Read was born in the 300 block of North Tejon Street. The original sign can be seen at the Pioneer Museum. And one of the original Poor Richard’s Feed & Read T-shirts brought national fame when it was worn by a character in the long-running TV sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
“I wanted to create a place where people could find healthier food,” Skorman says. “But I also wanted a place where people could hang out.”
College kids ate it up, especially on Saturday nights, when the CC food service was shut down. The 95-cent deal for half sandwiches was hard to beat.
He soon added entertainment, including poetry and music.
But mixing food, entertainment and books in a small space became a challenge.
“We once had an incident where a book fell off a shelf and landed in someone’s soup, which splashed in the woman’s face,” Skorman says. “Good thing it wasn’t hot.”
In 1980, he expanded to the space next door to keep the bookstore and restaurant separate. A couple of years later, Skorman started showing art films and classics in the back of his restaurant.
It was sketchy. Customers sat on beach chairs. Skorman’s pet parrot would sometimes scream during screenings. And the old 16 mm films would sometimes break. Skorman recalls a showing of the 1971 film Little Murders when the film broke with just a few minutes left. He acted out and explained the ending. The viewers applauded, and Skorman refunded their money anyway.
Eventually, he moved the films to the bookstore, shoving mobile bookshelves to the side and presenting art-house fare. Then, in 1982, he expanded again, creating a real theater next door, employing a mammoth 35 mm projector from the old Flick Theater. His old and now recently departed friend Bayles ran the theater, and Skorman says it was the only bookstore-movie theater combo in the country ever and the first in Colorado to get a liquor license. Little Richard’s Toy Store still owns it — the only toy store in the nation with a liquor license.
In the early ’90s, Bayles bought the theater and moved to the grandly restored Peak Theatre on Pikes Peak Avenue.
A New Partnership — A New Era
In 1986, Skorman stepped away from the businesses, leaving management to friends, in order to write a book that had been percolating in his head for years. He moved to New York City, worked at another cinema-bookstore and wrote Off Hollywood Movies, one of the first serious examinations of indie films before that was even a common term.
While in New York, Skorman met his would-be wife Patricia Seator, a teacher and therapist who became a major force in helping evolve the Poor Richard’s Complex.
“She turned Poor Richard’s Books and Gifts into a thriving new and used bookstore, with literally thousands of inexpensive, locally made and fun and funny gifts,” Skorman says. “She’s been a huge part of our success. She has curated a thousand greeting cards, and her art background created the wonderful atmosphere of Rico’s and the back patio.”
The restaurant also evolved. Skorman’s time in Manhattan rekindled his affection for New York pizza, which drove him to study at his favorite pizza places and buy a brick oven. Poor Richard’s Restaurant transformed from a healthy, vegetarian friendly sandwich shop to a healthy vegetarian friendly pizza parlor.
Noting that more and more of their friends were bringing kids with them, Seator and Skorman created Little Richard’s Toy Store in 1995. In keeping with the spirit of Poor Richard’s, Little Richard’s creative, imaginative and unique toys have made it a favorite among parents and kids.
In 2005, they opened Rico’s Coffee Wine and Chocolate (now called Rico’s Cafe and Wine Bar). It was one of the first in town to blend espresso drinks and alcoholic offerings, and Rico’s has also become a popular spot for weekly live music.
While overseeing this thriving food, toys, gifts and book complex with Seator, Skorman also explored some other interests, creating an environmental film festival, successfully working to expand open space — especially Red Rock Canyon Open Space — and serving as a city councilman and vice mayor four times between 1999 and 2021.
All the while, Skorman’s initial dream of making Poor Richard’s more than just a place for good food and a good read has been fully realized. On any given day, you can hear people throughout the complex chatting, scheming, flirting, listening to a band or just hanging out. The laughter of children in the toy store and the playground in back of the restaurant provides a joyful backdrop.
“Richard has created a space in downtown Colorado Springs with his businesses that celebrates the creative culture, welcomes everyone and has always been a safe space — no matter who you are,” says Carrie Simison, marketing director for the Downtown Partnership. “He somehow figured out how to have a third space that feels like home yet is always filled with something new. Poor Richard’s has been a constant in an ever-changing Colorado Springs, and I can’t imagine how different downtown would look if he hadn’t decided to create that space on Tejon Street.”
Poor Richard’s 50th Anniversary Celebration
June 8, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
324 N. Tejon St.
“This milestone is not just a celebration of our history — it’s a heartfelt thank you to our loyal customers, staff, and friends who have supported us for five incredible decades,” says Kimberly Birkman, marketing manager at Poor Richard’s.
Here are details and schedules for the celebration:
Live Music on the Patio
11 a.m.-1 p.m.: The Mitguards
2-4 p.m.: Revele & Paul
Kid Zone
11 a.m.-4 p.m.: Bounce house and kids games with prizes
12-3 p.m.: Face painting
Kids Storytime with Patricia and Richard
Storytime sessions at 11 a.m., 12 p.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Local Authors
11:30 a.m.: Kendall Pope
12:30 p.m.: Robin Izer
1:30 p.m.: Jimmy Sena
2:30 p.m.: Ian Patterson
The festivities will also include a look back at 50 years of photos, stories and community impact.
For more information, visit poorrichardsdowntown.com.
