The Midnight Oil Bookstore advocates for local readers through access and engagement
Sept. 26, 2025
Photo provided by Midnight Oil Bookstore
As Northern Colorado’s largest independently owned bookstore, The Midnight Oil offers more than stocked shelves and reading nooks.
Since opening in October 2021, the Chicano-owned store has prioritized community outreach and championed literary access. The store has two locations, a main standalone specializing in used books and a space in The Armory with new stock.
Cherry Martinez, the store’s general manager, said The Midnight Oil works to raise awareness of banned books, which the American Library Association describes as books that have been banned from school curricula or libraries due to group concerns.
One way the store provides access to these titles is by keeping them in stock.
“I just want to provide those books because maybe it's a student and their high school doesn't carry it anymore, so they come here to pick up a copy,” Martinez said.
Martinez noted The Midnight Oil used to be a jewelry store with a vault, which they keep open and full of banned books to purchase. “I try to carry over at least 20 titles at a time of different banned books, and it's been the banned book vault for years now,” he said.
The store also hosts a lineup of events every year for Banned Books Week, which takes place Oct. 5-11 this year.
According to The Midnight Oil’s website, the week starts with a pop-up at their Armory location on Oct. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Martinez said The Midnight Oil is collaborating with Kress Cinema for a screening of the banned book-centric documentary “The Librarians,” which will take place at the theater on Oct. 9 from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m.
Tickets are available on Kress Cinema’s website for $11, which includes the booking fee.
To close out the week, on Oct. 10, Martinez will participate in a Banned Book and First Amendment Rights Panel, which will take place at the LINC Library from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Martinez said The Midnight Oil has been vocal when it comes to banned book access, mentioning their history of speaking at local libraries and university events.
He offered a glimpse of his own stance on the subject. “No book really should be withheld from people unless there are very serious reasons, of course, but most of the time, books aren't banned for the right reasons,” Martinez said.
The Midnight Oil Bookstore did not just open with the intention of advocating for community access to banned titles; they strive to provide Greeley with access to a range of books.
Martinez mentioned they were the first bookstore established in the town after a years-long deficit.
“Before we opened, there was an eight-year gap of when there was another bookstore in town, and even that one was more of a magazine stand, so even longer since there was a true bookstore in town," he said.
Pablo Guzman and his uncle, Manuel Tapia, founded The Midnight Oil and named it after their shared childhood love of reading late into the night; the name also comes from the idiom “burning the midnight oil,” which is used to describe people who work long, late hours.
Martinez described Guzman as a community-oriented businessman who identifies what Greeley is missing and how to provide it, which is why The Midnight Oil’s stock includes more than books. He listed playing cards, rare international snacks, stationery, accessories, 3D prints, crystals and tarot cards as a sample of what they sell.
The main location also contains two businesses under the umbrella of The Midnight Oil: a 3D printing business and a bookselling venture called Belinda’s Book Bazaar.
Belinda’s Book Bazaar, a newer endeavor, is collector-focused and located in The Midnight Oil’s basement.
Martinez said that Belinda’s offers rare items, giving the examples of a first edition of “It” by Stephen King and a signed copy of an Anthony Bourdain cookbook.
While The Midnight Oil has a store credit trade-in and book donation program, rare books are mostly accepted with specific buyers in mind.
The store’s customer connections extend beyond their inventory; The Midnight Oil hosts frequent events that prioritize togetherness, especially in response to the growth of downtown Greeley.
Every month, The Midnight Oil collaborates with Kress Cinema to offer a book-to-film screening. They take place at Kress on the last Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m., and customers have the opportunity to purchase the book along with their ticket through The Midnight Oil’s website.
The store also has a monthly book club that meets on the last Wednesday of each month from 6 to 8 p.m. October’s book is “I Was A Teenage Slasher” by Stephen Graham Jones, and the club will meet on Oct. 29 at WeldWerks Brewing Co.
Martinez also mentioned one of the store’s upcoming annual sales, their by-the-pound “Skooberom” sale. It takes place in their back parking lot on Oct. 11 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Oct. 12 from noon to 5 p.m.
In addition to making books more accessible, Belinda’s Book Bazaar hosts free book collecting classes every quarter, which are announced on social media before they happen.
Those interested can follow The Midnight Oil Bookstore on Instagram and Facebook. Belinda’s Book Bazaar also has an Instagram page.
Additionally, The Midnight Oil sends out a monthly newsletter, which customers can sign up for on the store’s website.
Belinda’s has a newsletter as well, and Martinez said customers can email the store directly to join the list.
