Robert Harrison Aikens is the third owner of independent bookstore Verbatim Booksellers located in Vail, Colorado, open for business since 1983. Having started in retail 30 years ago, Robert has been managing or owning businesses from coast-to-coast for over 25 years. From working at his college bookstore in the late 1970’s to managing The Book Rack/Childrens’ Pages in Vermont in the 1980’s to regional manager for distributor Baker & Taylor in the 1990’s to owning Verbatim Booksellers since 2003, Aikens learned the book trade from some of the best.

After moving to the Vail Valley 1989, Aikens opened his own bookstore called A Reader’s Feast Bookstore Emporium at the base of Beaver Creek Resort. Civic-minded, he promoted bilingual education and understanding, established an important meeting place for the local 12-step groups, endorsed book signings and workshops for writers, supported community television, sat on the Board of Directors of the Avon-Beaver Creek Resort Association and staged a series of jazz concerts for the community to enjoy.

In 1992 he sold A Reader’s Feast and moved to Aspen, CO to help manage another prestigious bookstore, Explore Booksellers and Bistro. Aikens brought many of his civic-minded attributes to Aspen, becoming President of AIDS ASPEN C.A.R.E.S., and waged a fight against Colorado’s Amendment 2 by educating the public and organized a benefit concert which raised over $25,000. During his tenure at Explore, Aikens fine tuned his bookselling and marketing skills and promoted some of Aspen’s largest and most successful book signing/lectures/fund-raisers to date, including events with such authors as John Irving, Allen Ginsberg, Gloria Steinem, Randy Shilts, Jane Smiley, John Denver and Don Henley.

Moving west in 1997, he became co-owner of Fahrenheit 451 Bookstore &Coffeehouse in Laguna Beach. After only 18 months in business, El Niño and the accompanying mudslides forced the store to close just as it was gaining a reputation for its live entertainment and Poetry Slams. Although only a resident of Laguna Beach for a relatively short time, Aikens became an active member of the community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce, and helping raise funds for Laguna Shanti, a local AIDS organization.

Aikens spent the following two years as a sales representative for distributor Baker & Taylor Books and Entertainment. During that time he won several awards in sales, sat on the boards of the Southern California Booksellers Association and the Pan African Arts Center, and tutored “at risk” youth in reading and writing.

In 2000, Aikens returned to Vail to manage Verbatim Booksellers which he purchased in 2003. During his tenure at Verbatim, Mountain Living Magazine named “Verbatim one of the top five bookstores in the Rockies”. The New York Times Travel Section said, “…Verbatim is a “must stop” while visiting Vail,” and earlier this year Verbatim Booksellers was named Small Business of the Year by Comcast and the Vail Valley Chamber and Tourism Bureau.

Aikens believes “…there is a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in something you do it only when it is convenient. When you are committed to something you accept no excuses and produce only results.”

Aikens currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Vail Symposium and is a Commissioner on the Town of Vail’s Committee on Special Events.