In seven months, two grocery stores on Colorado Boulevard closed and one larger store opened in their place. The Safeway at 1653 S. Colorado Blvd. in Cory-Merrill closed in late 2025. The King Soopers at Belcaro Center, 825 S. Colorado Blvd., closed at the end of the day on June 2, 2026, after more than 50 years in business. The paperwork now on file for the Belcaro site describes apartments and a shoe store. None of it describes a grocery.
The Corridor, in Order
The changes came one at a time, which makes them easy to read as unrelated news. In sequence:
- September 15, 2025. Starbird opened its first Colorado restaurant at 965 S. Colorado Blvd. The company's location page still lists it.
- On or before November 7, 2025. That was Safeway's deadline for closing the Cory-Merrill store at 1653 S. Colorado Blvd. No replacement grocer has been reported for that building.
- May 15, 2026. Norris Design filed a formal site development plan for Embrey, proposing a four-story apartment building on about five acres of Belcaro Center.
- June 2, 2026. The Belcaro King Soopers closed. In its last days, prices were cut sharply to clear inventory.
- June 3, 2026. The new King Soopers opened about a mile south, at 4201 E. Arkansas Ave.
- August 4, 2026. King Soopers told The Denver Post it had found a buyer for the old Belcaro property but didn't name the buyer. The city's portal showed the apartment plan as "resubmittal required."
On that list, the only new food business that opened on this stretch is a restaurant. The grocery stores moved off the corridor or closed.
One Larger Store in Place of Two
The new store sits in Virginia Village, on land that used to be the Colorado Department of Transportation's headquarters. Kentro Group developed it, broke ground in early 2025, and put about $37 million into the site. At 103,000 square feet, it is much bigger than the Belcaro store it replaced. Westword described "much wider aisles," a Murray's Cheese Shop, a Starbucks, a drive-thru pharmacy, a larger beauty and wellness area, and a large section of cookware and kitchen appliances. The Denver Gazette reported that the Marketplace store is open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and has a sushi station, and that its fuel center opened first, in January 2025. King Soopers said the store would offer grocery pickup and delivery, with the gas station across the street.
Denverite said in May that the new store could also fill the gap left by the Cory-Merrill Safeway. That's the clearest way to understand what happened. Two older, smaller stores on Colorado Boulevard, one north of Mississippi and one south of it, were replaced by one store built to serve both areas. For Belcaro, the weekly grocery trip used to end at the corner of Exposition and Colorado. Now it goes past that corner and keeps going south.
What the Seven Acres Are Planned to Become
Belcaro Center covers seven acres at the southwest corner of East Exposition Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. For years, most of its storefronts were empty except the grocery store, and faded RadioShack and Mike's Camera signs were still visible on the facade. Here is what the current filings propose for each part of the site.
| Parcel | Proposed use | Size on file | Status as of August 4, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Former King Soopers strip, about 5 acres | Four-story, wrap-style apartment building by Embrey; studio through three-bedroom units | 347 units | City completed its first review; site development plan marked "resubmittal required" |
| 865 S. Colorado Blvd., 1.35 acres | Single-tenant Dardano's shoe store replacing a vacant liquor store building | 18,034 sq. ft. including a mezzanine, 57 parking spaces | Released from concept review; formal site plan application not yet submitted |
The Denver Post reported that, under the city's affordable housing requirements, the plan sets aside 35 of the 347 units, or 10%, to be leased at 60% of Area Median Income. Dardano's already has a Denver store a mile south at 1550 S. Colorado Blvd.
The size limits come from earlier community meetings. A 2024 preliminary review drew about 150 people, and neighbors raised concerns about building height and traffic on Colorado Boulevard and Exposition Avenue. Kentro then agreed not to seek a rezoning that would have allowed a taller building. In August, Embrey's vice president of development, Casey Klein, told The Post, "We remain fully committed to the project."
Demolition can't start yet. In 2025, the city issued a Landmark Certificate of Demolition Eligibility for the property. The application asked the city's Landmark Preservation staff to review whether the property has historical value. The record shows the certificate as issued, which doesn't clear the land for demolition by itself. In late July 2026, Post photographers found the old King Soopers building still standing and empty. For now, the corner is a vacant grocery store with a sale in progress and a site plan the city has sent back for revisions.
Where the Weekly Run Goes Now
With no grocery planned for the old center, these are the grocery options the sources identify for this part of Denver, from closest to the old Belcaro store outward.
| Stop | Address | Hours and details from current sources |
|---|---|---|
| King Soopers Marketplace | 4201 E. Arkansas Ave. | Daily 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Murray's Cheese, Starbucks, drive-thru pharmacy, pickup and delivery; fuel across the street |
| Natural Grocers | 2053 S. Colorado Blvd. | Farther south on Colorado Boulevard |
| Whole Foods Market Cherry Creek | 2375 E. 1st Ave. | Daily 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Cherry Creek Fresh Market | Steele Street, east side of Cherry Creek Shopping Center by Macy's | Saturdays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., through October 10, 2026 |
Grocery shopping has split into two directions. Whole Foods and the Saturday market are north toward Cherry Creek. King Soopers and Natural Grocers are south along Colorado Boulevard and Arkansas Avenue. The old Belcaro Center sat between them.
Talk of a Trader Joe's in Platt Park comes up often, but it's still only a proposal. In August 2025, The Denver Post reported Kentro's hope to break ground on a project at 567 E. Louisiana Ave. in 2026, and that report gave no opening date. Trader Joe's official Denver directory currently lists only its stores at 661 Logan St. and on North Colorado Boulevard.
The Saturday Market's Last Day
Of the four options, the Cherry Creek Fresh Market is the only one with a closing date. Its season runs from May 2 through October 10, 2026, so next Saturday is the last market of the year. After that, Fillmore Plaza's calendar moves on. The Sander Bike Build takes place there on Thursday, October 8. Volunteers build bikes in the morning and give them to local elementary-school children in the afternoon. The Cherry Creek Holiday Market opens on the plaza November 19 with local makers, live music, and free admission, and it runs through December 24.
When the market season ends on October 10, all of Belcaro's grocery options for the winter will be in permanent buildings, and the nearest full-service one is at 4201 E. Arkansas Ave.
If you own property near Exposition and Colorado and want to know how the Embrey resubmittal or the Dardano's application could affect your block, Casey Perry Properties follows these city filings closely and can talk them through with you. Request a private consultation.
