A popular company in Arvada moves to the locations, but remains in town thanks to the help of the city of Colorado. Black & Read has been located on Wadsworth Boulevard for decades, but it now travels to the street towards a larger space.
CBS
Monday, part of the store that sells vinyl records was being eliminated while the other half – which sells everything, from books to board games – was always lively and full of activity. The owner Kari Bakken tried to keep everything organized while moving carts entered and left the front door.
“(We try) not to be distracted by really cool things you have forgotten,” she said.
Bakken and his brother have the store for a few years. She has worked for Black & Read for over 20 years. But in recent times, the space has needed an upgrade and they have decided that they were going to move away from their longtime location.
“There are very few properties that would meet the size of the needs we would need,” she told CBS Colorado. “We have to go bigger than we are and we are already nearly 10,000 square feet here.”
They did not want to leave Arvada, but had the right proposal, it would have been difficult to say no. But fortunately for Bakken, she knew part of the Arvada economic association of development which could help rationalize the process and keep them in town.
“Over the past two years, I got more involved in the room and now I am in the detention committee, and we have visited other places and I did not know that I would call Iza for a detention visit,” said Bakken, referring to the executive director of the Iza Petrykowska economic development association.
What exactly is a retention committee? It is a special group which is part of the association which includes 12 people representing different cases throughout the city. The association of economic development is distinct from the city or the chamber of commerce, operating in order to do what is necessary and to keep a dialogue with small stores and large companies in Arvada to understand how to keep them in their locations.
“(We discover it) What pain points they have,” said Petrykowska. “(We discover) how we can help them. If they are looking for different sites, we can help them cross the internal city process, from authorization to development journals.”
In the case of Black & Read, it meant helping them in the process to find a better location just at the bottom of the road but still in Arvada. The company remains, its customers can continue to shop there and the city retains a place which has become a centerpiece of the community of music, literature and game.
“Having an association that cares to keep you in Arvada and keep you healthy is incredible,” concluded Bakken.
The new Black & Read address will be 6655 Wadsworth boulevard.
