Poor Richard's Downtown

A Colorado Springs Favorite since 1975

Pizza, Coffee, & Wine

Poor Richard's Restaurant & Rico's Café Wine Bar

Restaurant & Pizzeria

Rico's Cafe & Wine Bar

Books, Unique Gifts, & Toys

Poor Richard’s Books & Gifts AND Little Richard’s Toy Store

A little something for EVERYONE.

Poor

Book Store

  • 1000’s of New & Used Books
  • Best Seller Books
  • Classic Novel
Poor

Gift Store

  • Local Artisan Made Jewelry
  • The Best Cards Ever
  • Thoughtful Gifts

Toy Store

  • Fisher Price & Classic Toys
  • The Best Games
  • Intelligent Toys
  • Gobs of Stuffed Animals
  • Huge Puppet Selection

Hand-tossed pizza

MADE FRESH DAILY

Come see why our hand-tossed, solar-baked pizza, great homemade sandwiches and soups, and signature house salad have won Poor Richard’s Restaurant many “Best of” designations in Colorado Springs year after year.

Our famous 18-inch New York Style pizza starts with freshly made crust, topped with made-in-house, fresh Campari tomato sauce, and finished with your choice of 28 delicious toppings. Enjoy a whole pie or by the slice! Complement a sandwich served on fresh, locally-based breads with made-from-scratch soup or a signature house salad—our most popular menu item. Or try our new grain bowls, made with our organic brown and wild rice mix, topped with one of our homemade soups and a selection of other toppings.

Poor Richard’s offers dietary options including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free selections. Three different indoor spaces with local art on the walls, and our peaceful outdoor areas let you choose your dining environment.

Poor Richard’s Restaurant was the second child in our family of businesses, added to the bookstore in 1977 to form Poor Richard’s Feed & Read. Over the years, it is a first with our many loyal followers who enjoy delicious, homemade meals with us regularly, knowing that they can trust the quality of what we serve. With the best New York Style pizza in the region, we are a destination for pizza connoisseurs as well as for our fresh build-your-own salads and homemades soups.

Freshly brewed, perfectly aged

ORGANIC, LOCALLY ROASTED

Enjoy a hand-crafted drink, glass of wine, and one of our tapas in a chic, welcoming atmosphere at Rico’s Café and Wine Bar. Treat yourself to a cup of our organic, locally roasted European-drip style coffee or expresso paired with a decadent dessert such as pumpkin cheesecake, homemade cookie, or lava cake.

Tea lovers can choose from more than 30 loose-leaf, high-quality teas, including organic and fair-trade selections. Our unique Gourmet Iced Tea Bar features eight freshly brewed varieties daily.

Live music every Thursday and Friday from 6-9pm (check our Facebook events for details) and art shows by local artists on our café walls set the perfect tone for sipping a glass of wine. The wine list changes seasonally, so come often and find a new favorite! We also have a large selection of gourmet beers, including hard cider and gluten-free beer.

Rico’s opened in 2005 to accompany the bookstore, expand our offerings of culinary delights, add up-scale seating options, and create a music venue. It has since been a draw for coffee, wine, art and music lovers throughout our community and is part of the First Friday gallery tours.

Quality new and used

THE BEST BOOK SELECTION IN TOWN

The best selection of quality new and used books in town! Browse as long as you like or ask our knowledgeable book experts for their recommendations and advice. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and spend some time perusing the shelves.

We Buy Used Books!

Poor Richard’s Bookstore is a full-service new and used bookstore that was founded in 1975 as Poor Richard’s Used Paperbacks. It was the first in the Poor Richard’s family of businesses and remains an anchor and draw for both our loyal regulars and new customers who are always delighted to make the discovery of our home-grown, Indy bookstore.

IF YOU ARE SHOPPING ON OUR ONLINE STORE THERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW…

  • The inventory or availability of items on our Bookshop store does not reflect what we have in stock at Poor Richards Books & Gifts.
  • Bookshop gift cards are only good for Bookshop purchases. If you would like an in-store gift card, please call or come in to purchase.
  • We do not and cannot accept Bookshop returns in our PRBG store. However, Bookshop has a great return policy and customer service center that can help you.
  • This does not replace our customer’s in-store orders. If you would like to place an order for an in-store pick up, you can still do this by calling or stopping in.

Perfect gift

UNIQUE GIFTS FOR EVERYONE

Stop in whenever you’re looking for a unique gift for just about anyone. The gift shop features locally-made jewelry and other artwork handcrafted by local artisans. And there is much more from home décor to body care and accessories for women and men, which include many fair-trade, Colorado- and sustainably-made offerings.

And explore our wide range of well-selected stationery, greeting cards, journals and art supplies for the creative spirit.

Pick up a card to go along with your gift and wrap it onsite at our free, self-serve gift wrap station.

A little Poor Richard’s history. Our extensive gift and card selection was added in 2005 to what Poor Richard’s has to offer.  Customers have likened it to a curio shop in which they find hidden treasures. We invite you to come by for a little treasure-hunting with us!

For all ages

CLASSIC, WHIMSICAL, EDUCATIONAL

You’ll find the best classic, whimsical, and educational toys for kids of all ages at Little Richard’s Toy Store. Whether you’re looking for a game or puzzle, a lovable stuffed animal, a musical instrument or science kit to foster creativity, our experienced staff of Toy Geniuses helps you find the right toy for your child. Be sure to check out our newly expanded puzzles and games for both kids and adults, including cooperative games for the whole family!

Little Richard’s carries recognized brands, along with unique toys made of recycled materials, natural wood or organic cotton. We also have locally made items, as well as a huge selection of stocking stuffers from under $10.

Little Richard’s was added to our family of businesses in 1995. It became one more way for us to welcome and serve families in our community, who have enjoyed the selection as well as our much-loved kids’ play area in the back of our restaurant (which is soon to return in a new form).

OUR SOLAR PANELS

  • 117 panels in our roof
  • Powering up to HALF the energy used by all our businesses on a long summer day
  • Producing 37,527 kwh’s since 11/11
  • Preventing 74,968 pounds of CO2 from entering our Colorado skies in the first year of producing power

A Place Where You Feel At Home

Your hosts Richard Skorman and Patricia Seator welcome you to Poor Richard’s, where Downtown Colorado Springs residents, employees and visitors have been making themselves at home for more than 45 years.

From simple beginnings as a bookstore and restaurant, Poor Richard’s has evolved to become a downtown Colorado Springs landmark—a warm and friendly family of businesses under one roof that’s the only one of its kind in the country.

Richard Skorman was just 22 years old when he opened his first business, a used paperback store on North Tejon Street. Skorman was a senior at Colorado College when he had the opportunity to buy the stock from a book store that was closing.

Two years later, he expanded the business with a small inheritance, loans, and donated restaurant equipment. The idea of a bookstore where you could also get a bite to eat AND DRINK AN ESPRESSO was a novel idea at the time. Skorman wanted people to feel welcome at Poor Richard’s Feed & Read, to enjoy a comfortable place where they could hang out and not feel rushed. In the evenings, Skorman rolled back the bookshelves and pulled down a projection screen where he showed second-run independent, RIVIVAL and foreign films.

In 1982, Skorman rented an adjacent space and opened Poor Richard’s Bookstore & Cinema. With the bookshelves lining the walls of the space, it was a bookstore by day and a cinema by night (THE ONLY BOOKSTORE/CINEMA COMBINATION IN THE COUNTRY)  In 1992, Skorman expanded the bookstore into another adjacent space and sold the cinema to his friend Kimball Bayles who moved it two years later to a new location as Kimball’s Twin Peaks. This left an empty space at a time when the baby-boomer’s kids were coming onto the scene, inspiring Skorman and Seator to create Little Richard’s Toy Store.

In 2005, when Indy bookstores were going through an especially challenging time, Poor Richard’s Bookstore made space for Rico’s Café’ and Wine Bar and a thoughtful selection of gifts and cards. The mix of offerings saved a great home-grown bookstore and added further richness to the Poor Richard’s experience.

Poor Richard’s has evolved in many ways since its inspection in 1975, but that sense of a place where you feel at home has never changed.

Our Values

Throughout its history, Poor Richard’s has been not only a downtown landmark and innovative business, but also an organization that strives to have a positive impact on our customers and our community.

  • We proudly serve preservative-free, organic and local food whenever possible.
  • We carry many fair-trade and sustainably produced merchandise.
  • We serve and carry many local and Colorado-made products.
  • We support local artisans and provide a venue for local musicians and artists.
  • We recognize the importance of environmental sustainability and are committed to reducing our impact on the environment.
    • We compost or donate all of our food waste AND SERVING DISHES and generate very little landfill trash due to our compost and recycle program.
    • The 117 solar panels on our roof power our state-of-the-art electric, stone pizza ovens and light and cool our spaces AND HELP POWER OUR NEIGHBORS WHEN WE AREN’T FULLY USING OUR OWN POWER.
Poor Richard's Downtown

Contact Us

320–324 1/2 N. Tejon St
Colorado Springs
Colorado 80903