Choice Market Opens 3rd Location
Choice Market has opened the doors to its latest location in Colorado, according to Progressive Grocer sister publication Convenience Store News.
Billing itself as combining "the product selection of a natural market and fast-casual restaurant with the transaction times and footprint of a traditional convenience store,"the third Choice Market is the first to feature gas pumps and electric superchargers, the publication noted, citing a Business Den report.
"This was always going to be the evolution for Choice Market," CEO Mike Fogarty said. "We'll have multiple formats just like any other c-store, and on Colfax, you see 50,000 cars a day, so this was the perfect location to add pumps, and it had the zoning for it."
Choice Market partnered with St. Charles Town Co., which purchased the property, formerly home to a Chinese restaurant, for $1.45 million in September 2018.
In addition to fuel pumps and electric-car superchargers, the 2,700-square-foot Colfax location will feature a new digital component starting Aug. 14: Customers can order ahead for pickup or delivery via the Choice Market mobile app. The retailer has hired delivery drivers who will use electric cars and bikes to drop off purchases.
"Product selection leans a little more grocery because we are in more of a neighborhood setting, so we have things like fresh seafood, an extensive beer selection, and a lot more home and health items," the CEO said.
Situated at 2200 E. Colfax Ave. in City Park, Choice Market joins two other locations, one at 1770 N. Broadway in downtown Denver and the other at 1015 Osage St. in Lincoln Park. A fourth location is in the works at 909 Bannock St. in the Golden Triangle on the ground floor of the Parq on Speer apartment building.
The forthcoming 4,500-square-foot fourth Choice Market will open in November or December, and will feature frictionless technology, whereby customers can download an app, enter their payment information and scan the app to enter the store, and then just walk out when they’re done. Ceiling cameras and shelf sensors will determine what customers have selected to buy, and moments later, an e-receipt will appear on their phone.
Choice Market also is looking to open new locations in Boulder, Aurora, Arvada, Littleton and Golden, Colo., in the next couple of years. This week, the convenience store brand is closing on a Series A funding round of $3.5 million with participation from New York-based M3 Ventures and other private investors, according to Business Den.
"In this business, you really have to scale in order to be successful," Fogarty said. "We're looking to expand pretty aggressively."
Denver-based Choice Market debuted in 2017.
