The Boulder Applebee's restaurant at the Twenty Ninth Street Mall has officially closed this week making room for the new Trader Joe's grocery store that will take over this location on an as yet unannounced date in 2013.
The Denver Post reports that although the restaurant had a "late 2012" closure date slated, they got a jump on things and have cleared out in plenty of time for the California grocery chain to set up their 14,000 square foot shop.
So, will Coloradans be uncorking that famed inexpensive "Two Buck Chuck" wine on day one of the store's opening? Well, that remains unclear -- The Daily Camera reported back in February that the company had not yet filed a liquor license application with Boulder. However, given that state liquor laws limit chain stores like Trader Joe's to one full-strength liquor license for the entire chain and add that to the rumors that there may also be three Denver-metro locations coming in the future, Joe's may be deciding to reserve that liquor license for another location.
The Monrovia, Calif.-based grocery chain filed documents in January registering its business name with the Colorado Secretary of State. And although it was not confirmed until February, the Boulder location was presumed to be the first for the store in Colorado.
Trader Joe's markets itself as being "Your neighborhood grocery store," and has been around since 1958 offering an aesthetic Hawaiian theme to its shopping experience.
Trader Joe's fan pages like Coloradoans For Trader Joe's, a fan page that describes itself as "dedicated to the Coloradoans who desperately want the wonderfulness of Trader Joe's to grace the borders of our fine state," was all cheers and exclamation points when the official Trader Joe's announcement was released. Many Colorado fans of the grocery store chain have waited years for this day to finally come.