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Another big chain in store for Avon

Nicole Frey
Special to the DailyWal-Mart and The Home Depot are just a small part of a developer's plans for Avon.
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AVON – Love ’em or hate ’em, Avon will likely get another big chain store, though not as big as Wal-Mart and The Home Depot.

Developer Traer Creek, who erected the Avon big boxes, is currently looking for a larger retailer to anchor a shopping center just west of Traer Creek Plaza, the semi-circular building with the sod roof.

“We’re in talks with several popular and well-known retailers right now,” said Traer Creek spokesman Dan Christopherson. “It’s going just as fast as we can move ahead.”



Christopherson would only say that talks with national retailers have been going on for “quite some time,” and may extend into the fall. While no store has been selected and no timeline mapped out, Traer Creek has a rough idea of how the shopping center may turn out.

Unlike Wal-Mart, which is about 200,000-square-feet large, the new store will only be about 30,000 square feet. While the business will be a large, national chain, Christopherson said Traer Creek would work to make the store a “soft box,” meaning it’ll try to soften the look of the large store.

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“We’re going to build it into the hillside and minimize its size,” he said. “We want it to anchor the shopping area but not overpower it.”

Avon’s recycling center will have to move as a result of the new development. Traer Creek and Avon haven’t figured out where it will go, but Christopherson said it’s one of the developer’s highest priorities.

Although some people may take issue with large, national chains, Christopherson said securing a big store would attract other smaller shops, which will make up much of the shopping center. The smaller shops may or may not be chains, Christopherson said.

“The whole thing should sort of fuse together,” he said. “It should look like a whole, like a fun, diverse shopping area.”

The developer is also considering adding condominiums and an open-air plaza to the shopping center to create a mixed-use environment of people living, hanging out and shopping in the same area. And instead of vast asphalt parking lots, Traer Creek will opt for underground parking.

“We want to have a nice pedestrian orientation,” Christopherson said. “We want to do it on a human scale. We know we have a very attractive location.”

Staff Writer Nicole Frey can be reached at 748-2927 or nfrey@vaildaily.com.

Vail, Colorado


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