The owner of Denver independent record store Twist & Shout, who has been finalizing a long-planned move into the new cultural retail complex at the former Lowenstein Theatre, has announced he will close his two current locations at East Alameda Avenue and South Grant Street on Oct. 18.
That decision was thought to be the last major piece of a puzzle that has been more than a year in the solving. But Friday’s announcement also came with word that the Udi’s restaurant that was to be an anchor of the project on East Colfax Avenue will not happen after all.
“They had signed a letter of intent, but being new to the restaurant business, raising the capital that would be necessary to make that a reality gave them pause,” said project developer Charlie Woolley. He said that he is in negotiations with as many as three potential replacements and that “the project is in great shape.”
Twist & Shout owner Paul Epstein had been contemplating maintaining a smaller presence at his current home of 18 years even after moving into his new store. Instead, he will consolidate all of his operations into his new 12,000-square-foot space at 2508 E. Colfax Ave., where he will reopen Oct. 20.
“The decision to close was extremely difficult,” Epstein said. “We really had to get to a place where we were completely on board with this project – and now we are, 100 percent.”
Twist & Shout joins the Tattered Cover Book Store, which already is open for business, and an upcoming Denver Folk Center outlet, Neighborhood Flix Cinema and Café, as well as a previously unannounced smaller addition: the Morrison Hotel Gallery, which sells rock music photographs.
“We never expected to leave the neighborhood we live in and have worked in for so long,” Twist & Shout’s Dawn Greaney said in a statement. “However, the new space will give us a chance to own our building, to be part of an exciting urban redevelopment project and to create synergy with other independent businesses.”
Twist & Shout will occupy the newly constructed building just west of the Tattered Cover, which has assumed the former Lowenstein Theatre space.
The new Twist & Shout space will be about 1,000 square feet larger than the two current stores combined. Free parking will be available in a new garage built right above the new store.
“We will have more room and more opportunities for in-store performances that we can film and record,” Greaney said. “There will be more floor space to display music and more listening stations throughout the store to sample songs and albums.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
