Retail Curse Broken?
It has been the most vexing of retail spaces...until now.
To say that the underground retail space at 520 East Cooper Ave. has defied success would be an understatement. Its 4,000 subterranean square feet have vanquished many a restaurant, most recently Texas Red’s Barbecue, and the space sat empty for most of this past winter and spring. But in June, at long last, Aspen’s most longstanding retail curse appeared broken—or at least outsmarted.
Peter Fornell, who manages the building for the LLC that recently purchased it, has tastefully divided the cavernous locale into five smaller spaces and renamed it Fat City Plaza. Less square footage means lower overhead, which has led to four instances of local entrepreneurship. In the smallest space (271 sq. ft.), Kathryn Penn and Siam Castillo launched Kathryn Castillo, which sells the pair’s reasonably priced handmade crystal, pearl and semiprecious-stone jewelry.
Kali’s Denim—and its tops, dresses, fashion denim and accessories—came next and was soon followed by Noodles by Kenichi, an affordable lunch spot run by the talents behind Kenichi and Bad Billy’s. (One of their noodle bowls is pictured above.) Town buzzed for months when word leaked of the possible fourth occupant: a consumer electronics store focusing on green technology that might also sell—and the store’s owner is being necessarily coy here—certain products starting with “i”.
Fornell is in no rush to fill the fifth space, but he will say this about Fat City Plaza’s present and the future: “A local Aspen person will be able to afford something in all five of these shops.” You won’t hear us curse that.
