{"id":30282,"date":"2023-12-07T23:45:16","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T06:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ten-years-of-white-rabbit-books-curiosities\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:16:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:16:02","slug":"ten-years-of-white-rabbit-books-curiosities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ten-years-of-white-rabbit-books-curiosities\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten years of White Rabbit Books & Curiosities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Keena
Keena Kimmel, owner of White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, works in her store on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. The store at 128 W. 14th St., Unit C, along the Animas River Trail, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Not a lot of small businesses that make a go of it in Durango last to the five-year mark, let alone survive \u2013 and thrive \u2013 for a decade.<\/p>\n

Say hello to White Rabbit Books & Curiosities.<\/p>\n

The shop, opened in 2013 by Keena Kimmel, measures just 150 square feet and can only be accessed by the Animas River Trail. But packed into the space, and spilling out into the shop\u2019s famous garden, lies a feeling of whimsy and community.<\/p>\n

Kimmel, who is originally from upstate New York, moved to Durango with her husband in 2000. Before landing here, she said the couple traveled a lot.<\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

White Rabbit Books & Curiosities is located at 128 W. 14th St., Unit C. Its current winter hours are 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday. For more information, call 259-2213.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cMy husband and I were on the road for a long time doing art festivals and I sold books on the side for years online and at flea markets,\u201d she said. \u201dThere came a time when I was ready to have a roof over my head, and the bookstore just seemed like the next adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

That adventure of opening a bookshop has come with some challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020. Because the shop closed for a time during the thick of it, Kimmel stayed busy by taking the book business to social media, offering books from her inventory at home and sending them to customers. But once the pandemic lightened and stores were allowed to reopen, White Rabbit offered a place for people to regroup a little, Kimmel said, adding that the shop took advantage of its location, including its garden and proximity to open spaces along the river trail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was kind of a space where people could still come and be normal,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was weird because we could only have two people in the store at a time, so at times we had trivia going down the trail or people were waiting to get in, but we had our garden space and people would just come here to kind of catch their breath and find somewhere that was relatively normal during COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"White
White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, seen Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, is located at 128 W. 14th St., Unit C along the Animas River Trail. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kimmel said the \u201csecret sauce\u201d to the bookstore\u2019s success includes a couple of ingredients, including just keeping it simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was scared of the idea of my space is 150 square feet, and I was terrified going into it \u2026 I figured I could start a little bit at a time, and I had my garden outside,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to continue that and make it more community based in a collaborative space.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it would seem natural for a business that has made it in Durango for a decade to want to expand, that\u2019s not the case with Kimmel, who said she\u2019s had opportunities to trade up to a bigger space.<\/p>\n

\"Books
Books of all sorts fill the shelves at White Rabbit Books & Curiosities on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m happy where I am,\u201d she said. \u201cI had a few chances to move \u2013 I was going to go up on Main on Second (Avenue) when the Bookcase went out of business, that was years and years ago. And then the space behind me here is gone up for rent a couple times. And I would love to have kind of a tea party aspect to this \u2026 but just looking at logistically, I want to be able to manage it myself and I didn\u2019t want to get in over my head. So I chickened out at the last minute both times, and in retrospect, I\u2019m glad I did because I really love this little spot. I hope to be here as long as it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges of maintaining a business in Durango, Kimmel said she\u2019s still having fun.<\/p>\n

\"Keena
Keena Kimmel, owner of White Rabbit Books & Curiosities works in her store on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI just love talking to everybody that comes through the door. I never know who\u2019s coming through,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of locals that I\u2019ve gotten to known over the years, and there\u2019s just people that come in from all over the world and I get to hear their stories. That\u2019s the most fun for me.<\/p>\n

katie@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Jason
Jason Kimmel, husband of Keena Kimmel, owner of White Rabbit Books & Curiosities, sells his hand-blown glass in the store on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"T-shirts
T-shirts are sold at White Rabbit Books & Curiosities on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

bookshop on river trail has been a welcoming spot for a decade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1060,639,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-book","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81023,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30282\/revisions\/81023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30282"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}