Mutiny Information Cafe is leaving its longtime location on South Broadway for Englewood, the store announced Wednesday.
The underground book, record, comic and coffee shop has served the Baker and Speer neighborhoods since 2013 — or really, since 2005, when it was known as Mutiny Now! under different ownership.
The reason for the move is a familiar tale.
"Our current building is for sale and we are priced out of staying,” the shop said in its announcement.
Mutiny's last day in its current location is Sept. 22.
Although owners don’t know what their new rent would be under new ownership, they said they’re cutting their losses and looking forward to a fresh start.
For Mutiny, development on surrounding blocks spells gentrification, and they want no part of it.
“The way we run our business is not profit-orientated as much as a business, I suppose, should be,” said Jim Norris, one of two Mutiny co-owners. “So there would just be no way that we could keep up with the rent down there and do what we want to do, which is build community and not rip people off for things – and try to keep things affordable and fun and free for kids.”
He added that he’s excited for a fresh start. At the new location on 3483 S. Broadway, Mutiny will “focus on comics, coffee and community.” But “the store will be a lot cleaner and nicer,” Norris added, with more comics, less clutter, and a finished basement for hosting shows and events.
“We'll be pushing the same vibe,” Norris emphasized. "(It'll just be) a little smaller, much cleaner spot with air conditioning, a truly handicap-accessible bathroom, drinking fountains, all these things that we've been missing.”
But, in Mutiny fashion, a squeaky-clean space isn’t quite on brand.
“I guess up to us to put some dank in it,” Norris chuckled.
There are ghosts on the block, and that’s another reason Mutiny owners are ready for a change.
Before Mutiny was Mutiny (Information Cafe or otherwise), it was Ichabod's Books and Mrs. Crane's Coffee.
Norris said Ichabod’s “has got its own crazy story with the FBI and stolen books and all kinds of crazy stuff.”
But the building’s illicit history isn’t what haunts him. It’s the absence of Alicia Cardenas, a beloved tattoo artist and the founder of Sol Tribe Tattoo & Piercing, which was — until recently — located half a block north of Mutiny.
In 2021, Cardenas was killed at her shop by a white supremacist. Then, this July, Sol Tribe announced it would close its doors for good.
“[Cardenas] was the patron saint of the whole block,” Norris said. “When Alicia was killed, it took Matt [Megyesi, Mutiny’s other co-owner] and I's breath away — and right after that, Matt had his heart attack.”
Norris said things have felt like a fight ever since.
“[Cardenas] was such a big spirit — and the way we ran business is that we would never do anything that would make Alicia mad,” Norris said. “If I had a question about the way to treat people or things to do, I would always run those by Alicia.”
He also says that drug use in the area has ramped up in recent years.
“Fentanyl wasn't there when we started” in 2013, Norris said. “(But) fentanyl's there now and it's a horrible, horrible, horrible drug.”
Jim Norris is looking forward to a bright future in a new city.
Norris said Mutiny’s new location reminds him of the neighborhood he moved into 18 years ago.
“There's lots of cool, small, locally-owned businesses,” Norris said. “Englewood is like what Denver used to be. They're open to small businesses. They come to you and offer you grants and things like that.”
“We're stoked," he added. "And I think most people will be too – being able to park and not have to deal with Baker problems.”
Until Mutiny's last day, shop owners promise lots of live music and entertainment, and encourage patrons to, “come in, play some pinball, get a photobooth pic, and get a souvenir t-shirt or something.”
