University Village to add Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, others

Sept. 22, 2014

Kyle Guthrie
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The University Village Colorado shopping center will be unveiling four businesses in the near future.

The shopping center boasts a wide variety of stores and eateries including the membership-only warehouse club store Costco and restaurants such as Over Easy and BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse.

Kevin Kratt is responsible for the development and construction of the new stores.

“I love all of them,” Kratt said. “They’re all needed and unique for the area and they’re going to be the only ones in Colorado Springs. It’s exciting for us to continue to add these unique services that are coming into Colorado Springs for the very first time.”

Among the new stores to be opened is California-based specialty grocery store Trader Joe’s, which specializes in gourmet and organic foods.The supermarket chain has seen nearly unparalleled growth across the United States, and quintupled its store numbers nationwide between 1990 and 2001.

The opening for the Colorado Springs Trader Joe’s was originally projected to be early 2015, but an efficient construction schedule and permit application process allowed the store to open its doors several months earlier than anticipated with an opening now set for Oct. 10. Senior Helena Gill looks forward to the opening.

“I’m definitely most excited for Trader Joe’s,” Gill said. “It will give us some great diversity to the shopping experience we have here when it comes to grocery stores. It will be interesting to see how well it does out here.”

“I’ve never personally been there, but I’ve heard Trader Joe’s is a really cool place,” Bryan Hummel, graduate sociology student, said.

Another store that will soon be featured in the UVC is the nostalgia-inspired candy store Rocket Fizz, which specializes in an array of rare candies and its own massive line of unique soft drinks.

Also based out of California, the Colorado Springs store will be the 48th to open nationwide. It is scheduled to open in November.

The Cowboy Star restaurant and butcher shop will also be joining the shopping center. Based out of San Diego, the steakhouse has won multiple awards including the California Restaurant Association’s “Best Steakhouse Fine Dining” award in 2012 and was named “Best Steakhouse in San Diego” by the Zagat Rating Association.

This will be the second location in the United States and is set to open in December.

Additionally, Starbucks plans on opening its newest store in the UVC. Starbucks, which is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, has 48 stores located in Colorado Springs alone, but the new store will geographically be the nearest to the university and will open on Sept. 26.

As students become aware of the opening of these stores, plans to add more stores are under development. Kratt mentioned developments so new that they have not yet been formally announced.

“We also signed a lease with Christy Sports,” Kratt said. “And we’re excited to announce that they’re relocating their store that they have on Central Academy. We’ll be starting construction in November.”