Hi Emerald! Can you describe your journey leading up to owning “Horrid” Horror Shop in Denver?
Hey Denver! My name is Emerald. I’ve been a horror fan since I was a child, watching horror movies through my fingers with my family. It was a very long journey to get to where we are now, but it all began with a magazine. The first rendition of the HORRID brand started in 2018 and was actually a dark art photography magazine. I wanted to make a space for artists to share their work with others. It features all types of horror, dark, and gothic art from all over the world.
During COVID, I started creating more products to supplement the magazine and build the brand, including apparel, stickers, and candles. Creating space for dark and horror artists was always at the forefront. Once the world started opening back up, the small business vendor market was booming. Everyone was ready to shift toward supporting more small business and I began creating a network of other small business vendors and artists in the local Denver community as well.
To make a long story short, I opened my first shop as more of a witchy shop inside of a tattoo shop. I loved the community of femme and queer business owners and being able to fill a shop with all of my local artist and market friends. I had that shop open for a year and it was such a learning experience. When I opened the second shop in November of 2022 I knew that what Denver really needed was even more horror. We have awesome witchy, dark stores but I felt like I was just edging on what I wanted to do, which was create a space for horror movie lovers and halloween lovers all year round.
Today, the shop supports a growing network of mostly local small businesses, I’m guessing about 30 local and 15 non-local artists and we begin working with new vendors all the time. I’m so happy with how everything has evolved while the idea of supporting our local horror community has remained in the forefront, including the other business owners in our haus of horrors now. Partnering with the other businesses has also created such an experience for our customers, and we’ve become a destination for horror lovers traveling all over the country which will hopefully just continue to grow our community even further!
What neighborhood can we find Horrid? Why this location?
We are located behind our friends at the Brutal Poodle in the South Broadway neighborhood. We are right off Broadway and Evans. I love our neighborhood for the community. The small businesses and regulars come and support us whenever they can and they’ve been so welcoming. Even those that don’t love horror!
What are some of your favorite / most popular items in the store?
We sell all types of horror merchandise and art. Unlike Halloween stores, we don’t focus as much on mass-produced items like costumes or figurines. We primarily sell handmade, small-batch items from local, small businesses. Some of my favorite items include our bloody horror candles that we make in house, our iconic horror plush dolls including a crochet Leatherface, and of course our cursed dolls.
You’re attached to Scr3am & Sugar Coffee – what do you love about sharing the space with them?
We love Nic at Scr3am n Sugar! We’ve been incredibly collaborative since the day they opened in our back room and I’m super excited she was recently licensed in her forever home behind her awesome counters with a more extensive menu and food coming next week. We both met and immediately kicked it off. My personal favorite drink of hers is the “Something Wicked” which is a latte with Ube Syrup in it!
Tell us about the “Creepatorium” and what type of shows happen here / how often?
Creepatorium is our venue created by weirdos, for weirdos. We create alternative events for our community, where alternative event planners can partner with us to create rad events where they aren’t censored. We love them use fake blood, haha! We are always hosting something fun for our community, almost every weekend and some week nights. Anything from horror movie nights, vendor markets, burlesque shows and more!
You started Horrid Magazine in 2018 – can you describe how it has evolved since 2018 and what can be found inside?
We started the magazine as a tiny zine that I hand-printed and stapled in my spare bedroom. It was primarily my own dark art photography while I got the word out and started working with the submissions of other artists. Around 2020, so two years in, we began working with tons of artists from all over the world, I’m talking Japan, Italy, Russia, etc., and we also started working with a printing company to create a full-sized, matte-covered magazine. It’s really more like an art book with how well designed and printed it is. Shout out to the HORRID designer, and my brother Jake Boes for making it the awesome book that it is today. With the shop being our main priority now, we switched last year to an even larger, annual issue every October.
What challenges have you faced along your journey?
The challenges of owning a business are… expansive. From trying to manage a work/life balance, to navigating social media with funky algorithms, to skipping paychecks as an owner. One thing that hasn’t been a challenge, is our community supporting us. It seems that whenever we are down, or go through any challenges, they are right there with us to pick us up and make us even stronger than before.
How would you describe the personality or “Vibe” of Denver?
I love Denver so much. It’s such an interesting city to me. I describe Denver as a drinking city. Most of our fun, besides the nature-based activities, are in the bar culture. We aren’t much of a foodie city either. But what I love about Denver is the small businesses we have here. I recently traveled to Cleveland and tried to find a local coffee spot, and it reminded me that the support and culture of small business does not alway exist the same in other cities. The vibe in Denver is a bit eclectic, but I love our community.
Website + Social Media for “Horrid”?
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