On May 29, a Denverite photographer walked past the Belcaro Center at 825 S. Colorado Blvd. and caught the faded RadioShack and Mike's Camera signs on storefronts that had been empty for years. The King Soopers next to them was cutting prices to clear its shelves. Denverite reported that the store would close on Tuesday, June 2. By the Denver Post's count, it had served the community for more than 50 years.
So this is the first Thanksgiving in decades that Belcaro and Bonnie Brae will shop for without a supermarket at Exposition and Colorado. In the space of about nine months, two conventional supermarkets on this part of Colorado Boulevard became one, and that one is larger, newer and a mile farther south.
Two Supermarkets on the Boulevard Became One
The first closure came before the King Soopers move. In September 2025, Denverite listed the Safeway at 1653 S. Colorado Blvd. among four Denver-area stores Safeway was closing, with the closures scheduled on or before November 7 of that year. Denverite said the closure would affect the Cory-Merrill neighborhood.
Then the Belcaro King Soopers closed on June 2, 2026. Its replacement opened the next day at 4201 E. Arkansas Ave. in Virginia Village, about a mile south. Denverite noted that the new store could also fill the gap the Cory-Merrill Safeway left behind. The store sits on land that used to be the Colorado Department of Transportation's headquarters. King Soopers broke ground there in 2025.
The full-service supermarket that once sat at the edge of Belcaro now serves Belcaro, Bonnie Brae and Cory-Merrill from one building. Here's the current grocery map along the Colorado Boulevard corridor and nearby, using each store's own listing:
| Store | Address | Regular hours listed |
|---|---|---|
| Whole Foods Market, Colorado Blvd | 870 S. Colorado Blvd. | 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily |
| King Soopers, Virginia Village | 4201 E. Arkansas Ave. | 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily |
| Natural Grocers, Colorado and Evans | 2053 S. Colorado Blvd. | See store page |
| Sprouts, Denver Colorado Blvd | 2880 S. Colorado Blvd. | 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Whole Foods Market, Cherry Creek | 2375 E. 1st Ave. | 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily |
| Trader Joe's, Denver | 750 N. Colorado Blvd. | 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
The first row matters most for Belcaro. The Whole Foods at 870 S. Colorado Blvd. is on the other side of the boulevard from the empty King Soopers building. The neighborhood still has a grocery store within walking distance. What it lost is the conventional supermarket, along with the pharmacy and gas pumps that came with it.
What the Extra Mile Gets You
The Virginia Village store is a different building from the one it replaced. Denverite put it at 103,000 square feet and $37.1 million. King Soopers said it would include a Murray's Cheese shop, a gas station and a Starbucks. Coverage at the time of the opening also listed a sushi department and a fuel center across the street.
These are the regular hours on the King Soopers store page for 4201 E. Arkansas Ave.:
- Grocery: 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily
- Fuel center: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
- Pharmacy: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, closed daily from 1 to 1:30 p.m.
- Pharmacy drive-thru: available
- Also listed: pickup, Starbucks, Murray's Cheese
If you used to stop by the Belcaro pharmacy, plan around that daily 1 p.m. closure. The drive-thru helps on cold afternoons. The grocery side opens two hours before the Whole Foods across from the old Belcaro lot does. For an early-morning run during Thanksgiving week, that makes the trip south the earliest option on this stretch of Colorado Boulevard.
The site has more planned. Kentro Group, which developed the store, kept roughly 1.5 acres of the old CDOT land. According to spring coverage of the opening, plans call for about 4,000 square feet of restaurant space and turning about two-thirds of that remaining land into green space. No timeline was given.
Thanksgiving Week, Split Between Two Stops
With one supermarket a mile south and one across the boulevard, a holiday shopping week can be split between them. Here's one way to do it with the hours the stores currently list:
- Order ahead early. The King Soopers Thanksgiving 2026 page tells shoppers to stock up early and links to order-ahead. It doesn't list a meal preorder deadline or Thanksgiving Day hours, so check with the store directly.
- Do the big trip south. Pantry staples, the pharmacy pickup and a full tank can all happen in one stop at 4201 E. Arkansas Ave., where the fuel center is open until 10 p.m.
- Pick up the cheese board there too. The Murray's Cheese counter means that errand doesn't need its own trip.
- Save last-minute items for the store across the street. Whole Foods at 870 S. Colorado Blvd. is the closest grocery to the Belcaro Center corner and also offers catering ordering through its store page.
The hours above are regular hours. Holiday hours often differ, and none of these stores had posted 2026 Thanksgiving Day hours on the pages listed here. Call ahead before planning around a Thursday-morning run.
The Empty Corner at Exposition and Colorado This Winter
The old store isn't coming back as a grocery. The Denver Post reported on August 4 that King Soopers had found an unnamed buyer for 825 S. Colorado Blvd. and was working through the details of the sale.
According to that report, the proposal for the roughly 7-acre center at the southwest corner of East Exposition Avenue and Colorado Boulevard is a four-story, wrap-style apartment building with 347 units on about 5 acres. It comes from Embrey, working with Kentro Group. Units would range from studios to three-bedrooms. The city's permitting portal listed the site development plan as "resubmittal required" as of that report, with the project overall "in progress." Denver's Community Planning and Development department said it was waiting on a resubmittal after finishing its initial review.
Embrey's vice president of development, Casey Klein, gave the Denver Post this statement:
"We are actively advancing the project through the city's review and permitting process, including responding to the comments received on our site development plan. We remain fully committed to the project."
The south end of the center has its own plan. Shoe retailer Dardano's has proposed replacing the vacant liquor store at 865 S. Colorado Blvd. with a single-story building of about 18,000 square feet, with 57 parking spaces on site and along E. Ohio Ave. As of the August report, the city was waiting for Dardano's to submit a formal site development plan after concept review.
That August report is the latest public status for both projects. As of the Denver Post's account, there's no announced date for demolition or construction. Unless something moves quickly, the corner will probably look this winter much like it looked when the lights went off in June.
The Short Walk That Didn't Change
The errands closest to Bonnie Brae's own blocks weren't affected by the move. Bonnie Brae Liquor, at 785 S. University Blvd., is hosting Vines & Canines with St. Francis Winery & Vineyards on Friday, November 6, from 3 to 6 p.m. The shop's event listing includes free wine samples, adoptable dogs, a dog caricature artist, a bandana-making station and $30 pet portrait mini-sessions, with proceeds going to the rescue. Colorado Pet Pantry will collect donations, and $1 from every bottle sold goes to Humane Colorado. It's a chance to pick up wine for Thanksgiving on South University with the dog along.
If you're heading north on foot or by bike toward the Cherry Creek Trail, the Steele Street crossing at East Alameda Avenue was rebuilt this year. Denver's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure lists a new crosswalk, curb extensions, a pedestrian refuge island, flashing beacons and bike and scooter markings there among its 2026 crossing improvements.
What happens at 825 S. Colorado Blvd. will affect the Belcaro corner for years, and I keep an eye on each step it takes through city review. If you have questions about the redevelopment, or about how the changes along Colorado Boulevard affect your street, Chriss Bond is glad to talk it through with you. Contact Me.
