diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index acb3b0fb..595f43a5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 ### Minor enhancements
 * Updated handling of references on read to simplify future integration of file-based Zarr 
   stores (e.g., ZipStore or database stores) @oruebel [#62](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf-zarr/pull/62)
+* Added can_read classmethod to ZarrIO. @bendichter [#97](https://github.com/hdmf-dev/hdmf-zarr/pull/97)
 
 ### Test suite enhancements
 * Modularized unit tests to simplify running tests for multiple Zarr storage backends
diff --git a/src/hdmf_zarr/backend.py b/src/hdmf_zarr/backend.py
index 7c364864..153b703b 100644
--- a/src/hdmf_zarr/backend.py
+++ b/src/hdmf_zarr/backend.py
@@ -75,6 +75,14 @@
 
 class ZarrIO(HDMFIO):
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def can_read(path):
+        try:
+            zarr.open(path, mode="r")
+            return True
+        except Exception:
+            return False
+
     @docval({'name': 'path',
              'type': (str, *SUPPORTED_ZARR_STORES),
              'doc': 'the path to the Zarr file or a supported Zarr store'},
diff --git a/tests/unit/base_tests_zarrio.py b/tests/unit/base_tests_zarrio.py
index 3e157413..6b1c7005 100644
--- a/tests/unit/base_tests_zarrio.py
+++ b/tests/unit/base_tests_zarrio.py
@@ -170,6 +170,9 @@ def createReferenceCompoundBuilder(self):
                                          'ref_dataset': dataset_ref})
         return builder
 
+    def test_cannot_read(self):
+        assert not ZarrIO.can_read("incorrect_path")
+
     def read_test_dataset(self):
         reader = ZarrIO(self.store, manager=self.manager, mode='r')
         self.root = reader.read_builder()
@@ -209,6 +212,7 @@ def test_write_int(self, test_data=None):
         writer = ZarrIO(self.store, manager=self.manager, mode='a')
         writer.write_builder(self.builder)
         writer.close()
+        assert ZarrIO.can_read(self.store)
 
     def test_write_compound(self, test_data=None):
         """