Massive Liquor Store Rising in the East

For once, Eastern Boulder County can't point a disparaging finger at Broomfield regarding a particular development we may consider aggressive sprawl. No, this time Broomfield's eastern neighbor Thornton will be home to a trophy development that makes you wince at the audacious scope. This month on the east side of the Hwy 7 and I-25 interchange, the state's largest liquor store will open, 51,000 sq. feet of anti-prohibitionist splendor.

Erie and Lafayette's small local liquor stores are mapped out in this Daily Camera article and their owners remark how the new store is likely too far away to cause a huge drain on their sales. What caught my eye though, was one, the amount of marketing detail in the article re: the new store (Camera positioning for a new advertising account?) and two, how different the philosophy of our eastern neighbors' growth plans are to embrace such a store.

As part of the 500,000 - sq ft commercial Larkridge South development, the $7.5 million Daveco Liquors hopes to draw customers from as far away as Wyoming.

Granted the overall development along the Hwys 7 and I-25 corridors doesn't mean the Daveco Liquor Store will even stand out, but while Lafayette is arguing over a potential Lowe's annexation and overiding a growth cap in next week's election, and Erie struggles to get any substantial retail development going along it's sliver of Hwy 7 it controls, another monster example of raw capitalism and tax-generating power is rising in the east. And just in time for the holidays! Yeesh...