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DENVER-After nearly 26 years as an anchor retail tenant in Cherry Creek North, the trendy boutique shopping area across from Taubman's Cherry Creek shopping center, Cook's Mart is closing its doors. Cook's Mart, a retailer of cookware, dinnerware, home décor and accessories, carries brands including All-Clad, Suisinart, Vietri, Henkels, Capresso, Polish Pottery and others.

"That's too bad," Tom Mathews, a retail broker with CB Richard Ellis tells GlobeSt.com on Wednesday. He, and many others, says the character of Cherry Creek North, once dominated by local owned stores, is beginning to change. Cherry Creek North has been called Denver's version of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. A collection of boutiques, spas, restaurants, galleries and other specialty shops located in Denver, Cherry Creek North is located between University Boulevard and Steele Street from First Avenue to Third Avenue.

The 4,500-sf store, which still has two years remaining on its lease, is the largest single tenants in the Cherry Creek Square retail center in Cherry Creek North, which Chicago-based Next Realty bought last fall for $14 million, or $400 per sf. Next Realty couldn't be reached for comment, but many observers expect them to eventually raze the development and turn it into an upscale, mixed-use development with housing and high-end retail, much like the nearby Clayton Lane. Last fall, an executive with Next Realty told GlobeSt.com it was too early to speculate on their plans.

Merrillyn Shroads, who opened the store in November of 1980, with 1,800 sf, tells GlobeSt.com that closing the store is "bitter sweet." She tells GlobeSt.com that she's not sure whether she will try to sublease the space during the final two years of her lease. She bemoans that Cherry Creek North is becoming so expensive that is harder for locally owned operators to have stores there. "Landlords keep raising rents, so it is easier for national chains to pay the high rates than local operators," she tells GlobeSt.com.

However, in her case, she says it isn't competition from new stores, such as the nearby Crate & Barrel in Clayton Lane. "Crate is just the latest competitor," she tells GlobeSt.com. She tried to buy her space, but the deal didn't go through. It would take another six months to try to put together another purchase deal and she decided it was time to call it quits, and be able to travel more and eat lunch with friends in Cherry Creek North, she tells GlobeSt.com.

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National Retailers Overshadow Local Shops at Cherry Creek North

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