Colorado Real Estate Journal - March 18, 2015
A Northern Colorado discount grocery retailer is planning its biggest store yet – on a 3.45-acre site in northern Loveland. Esh’s Discount Groceries will build a 33,000-square-foot building at 301 71st St. (Lots 4 and 5, Block 6) in Longview Business Park. The building will include about 15,000 sf of retail space, along with office and warehouse space. It will replace the company’s existing 5,000-sf Loveland location. The store will be the first that Esh’s has built from the ground up. Its existing stores typically were built for former mom-andpop retailers. “We’re excited about building a store that meets our needs,” said owner Reuben Esh. “We really appreciate our customer base in Loveland. They’ve been very loyal to us,” he said, adding the store draws customers from locations including Fort Collins and Windsor, as well as Cheyenne, Wyoming. “We’re excited about making it more convenient for most of our customers and having more parking and a lot bigger selection of discount groceries than what we have now,” Esh commented. Esh’s bought the development site from First and Second Longview LLLP for $431,000. Joe Palieri of Doberstein Lemburg Commercial Inc. represented the buyer, and Larry Melton of Realtec-Loveland represented the seller. Palieri said the property is more centrally located between Loveland, Fort Collins and Windsor than Esh’s existing store. “The (existing) location is just not the ideal location,” added Esh, who noted the site has insufficient parking, a lack of visibility and, more importantly, is too small. “We simply outgrew the property,” he said. Loveland-based Hauser Architects and JP Construction are the architect and contractor for the new building. Esh hopes to break ground on the approximately $2.4 million project in a couple of months and open the store by fall or winter. Esh’s Discount Groceries buys closeouts, groceries nearing their expiration dates and products that may come in dented cans, for instance, from distributors across the country and sells them at deep discounts. It receives shipments daily, so available products change constantly. Its stores also offer produce and delis. In addition to the Loveland store, the company has approximately 8,500-sf locations in Dacono and Evans.