Skip to main content

About Us

All About Us

Who are we? We're a ragtag group of writers, ski bums, students, teachers, artists, and more on a mission to get the right books (and the right coffee!) into your hands.

Photos of the Staff

What about our store? We are a full-service independent bookstore, with an extensive collection of new fiction, literature, history, memoirs, and young adult books. We feature a large selection of children's books and toys! We carry Indie Bound selections, NY Times bestsellers, and as a sponsor of  Literary Sojourn, a selection of Literary Sojourn authors.

In addition to our carefully curated inventory of books, we have a great selection of greeting cards, games, puzzles, journals, art supplies, and a varied assortment of unique gifts. We can help you select the perfect gift, wrap it, and even ship it!

Our award-winning cafe serves the best coffee and pastries in town, as well as boozy coffee. We are pleased to be serving Seedhouse Coffee, roasted locally in Steamboat Springs, CO. 

Books, Coffee, Friends

Our goal for Off the Beaten Path is to create a sustainable business that is a community treasure - a place for the exchange of ideas and the sharing of the written word, where reading is encouraged and celebrated. When someone walks through our door and breathes in the smell of coffee and fresh-baked cookies, sees our beautiful selection of books, and hears the buzz of conversation, we want them to feel like they’ve entered a place like no other, a place where they’ll want to return to again and again.

Located at 68 9th St. in historic downtown Steamboat Springs. Open 7 days a week. 

Off the Beaten Path's History

Dick and Leslie Ryan at the 7th St. Location

 

In 1989, Dick and Leslie Ryan moved to Steamboat Springs and purchased Boomtown Books - a tiny, mostly used bookstore operating on the mountainside of Lincoln Avenue between 9th and 10th streets. The following year, the Ryan’s built a home for the bookstore on 7th street, in what is now The Commons. They moved their fledgling business there and, in keeping with their desire to make the bookstore a community meeting place, added a coffeehouse featuring on-site freshly baked confections. The store was rebranded into Off the Beaten Path Bookstore, Coffeehouse, and Bakery Cafe

Ron and Sue Krall at 68 9th St. Location

In 2007 the Ryans retired and sold Off the Beaten Path to Ron and Sue Krall. Ron and Sue were in the process of retiring to Steamboat and had been frequent visitors and customers at the bookstore. Wanting to see the bookstore continue to be an essential part of the Steamboat community, Ron and Sue purchased the business and moved it to its current location at 68 9th St. The two of them strove to modernize Off the Beaten Path, giving it a new look and logo while keeping the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the old bookstore. 

Mike and Danielle Skov at the 68 9th St. Location

Ron and Sue decided to sell the bookstore in July of 2022 to Mike and Danielle Skov. The Skovs raised their three children in Steamboat, and it had always been Danielle’s dream to purchase the bookstore once the Kralls were ready to retire. When Ron and Sue offered to sell, Danielle retired from her career as a reading specialist and jumped into the business feet-first! These days you can find Danielle behind the front desk making book recommendations and the rest of the Skov family pitching in wherever they can.