Somewhere in Carl's Pharmacy, past the prescription counter, you can buy a birthday present, a bottle of wine, a bag of groceries, a sweatshirt and a pair of earrings. The store at 306 E. Main St. opened in 1965 under Carl and Katie Bergman, the Aspen Daily News reports. Over six decades it grew into a throwback to mid-century American shopping, with toys, groceries, alcohol, clothing and jewelry on the shelves. The Miners' Building hardware store joined it in 1976, and both have stayed in the family since.
Both businesses are now under contract to new owners who say they will keep both running, and that sale shows how downtown Aspen's everyday shops survive. Over the past two years, the useful businesses that stayed downtown were the ones protected by whoever controls the space: a family picking a buyer, the city designing a food hall, or a new nonprofit trying to buy commercial property outright. The ones that left mostly reached the end of a lease.
A Sale With Continuity Written Into It
According to the Aspen Daily News, the buyers are Peter Grenney and Tyrone McKillen, two local real estate agents. In a statement to the paper they said they intend to "preserve the pharmacy and hardware uses, listen to the teams and community and thoughtfully invest in the businesses over time."
On Oct. 12 the buyers sent a letter to store employees, which the paper obtained. In it they say they plan to keep the existing teams and "continue operating Carl's and Miners' as they have been." The letter is open about what comes later:
"We see this as a long-term investment in both businesses and in Aspen. It would be dishonest to say we don't have ideas for how the businesses could evolve, but we've intentionally made no plans at this time."
The sellers wanted continuity too. Linda Brining, the founders' daughter, told the Aspen Daily News the family was "very excited to find purchasers with a desire and ability to keep Carl's Pharmacy and Miners' Building Hardware serving the community for years to come." She said the contract was mainly waiting on a pharmacy license from the Drug Enforcement Administration. So for now the sale is still a contract, and it closes once that license comes through.
The family chose buyers who said up front that they would keep a pharmacy and a hardware store running in the commercial core. Most downtown businesses never get that choice. Theirs depends on a lease.
When the Lease Runs Out
Look at the past two years of closures downtown and the lease is almost always the deciding moment.
Jour de Fête, the Durant Avenue café Olivier Mottier ran with his family, closed in January 2025 when its 20-year lease ended. The Aspen Daily News reported that the new lease terms were unattractive. Mottier credited owner-operation for how long the café lasted: "I am an owner-operator."
Mi Chola, at the corner of Main and Mill, closed in September 2025 after nearly 10 years. Owner Darren Chapple told Aspen Public Radio that his final month's rent was $42,000 and a renewed lease would have raised it to $85,000. That is more than double, for the same corner, at the moment of renewal.
Aspen Eclectic, the toy, game and gift shop at 635 E. Cooper Ave., followed the same pattern this fall. Owners Carrie and Larkin Horn closed it at the end of its lease, with the last day announced for the first Friday in September 2026, the Aspen Daily News reported.
None of these was a sudden failure. Each business ran until its lease came up for renewal, and the renewal is where the decision was made.
What Moved In, and What It Costs
When a space does turn over, the new tenant faces the same math. Silvers took over the former Jour de Fête space at 710 E. Durant St. in 2025, selling in-house bagels, sandwiches, prepared foods and take-home dinner ingredients. Co-owner Olivia Wheat told the Aspen Daily News on opening day that they wanted to offer a less expensive middle ground and "definitely want to be for locals." The manager, Christy Sax, is a longtime local who used to work at Paradise Bakery.
Even a business aimed at locals has to price for downtown rents. Co-owner Jake Lansburgh told Aspen Public Radio in August 2026 that a plain bagel with cream cheese costs about $8. "Most businesses in town give people sticker shock," he said. "That is what we have to charge to survive." Silvers has kept going. Its website currently lists an October 2026 menu, online ordering, catering, and open jobs.
Locals still get a deli out of the trade, but the price reflects what the space costs.
Two Ways Aspen Is Trying to Control the Space
The city and a group of residents have reached the same conclusion: if lease renewals are where downtown loses its everyday businesses, the fix is to control the space before renewal comes around. They are each going after it a different way.
| Space | Who controls it | What it's meant to hold | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carl's Pharmacy and Miners' Building | Bergman family, selling to buyers who pledged to keep both uses | Pharmacy and hardware, current staff | Under contract, pending a DEA pharmacy license |
| Armory Hall, 130 S. Galena St. | City of Aspen | Community food hall with five kitchens and a grab-and-go space | Under construction since August 2026, opening expected late 2028 |
| Future AACT properties | Aspen Area Community Trust | Affordable leases for necessary goods and services | Hiring an executive director, first property hoped for in 2027 |
Armory Hall
The city is turning its own building into a food hall. In June 2026 Aspen City Council approved a $60.66 million all-in budget and moved the project into construction. Council Member Bill Guth called it "the highest and best use for the community," The Aspen Times reported. Final completion is expected in November 2028.
The city's Aug. 4 announcement confirmed that work had started at 130 S. Galena Street. The plan calls for five commercial kitchens and storefronts plus a retail and grab-and-go space. When the city went looking for an operator in July, it said the tenant mix should serve residents and visitors year-round, according to The Aspen Times. Proposals were due Sept. 2. Because the city owns the building, it can require the year-round, resident-serving mix that a private landlord doesn't have to offer.
The Aspen Area Community Trust
The second approach applies the land trust model to storefronts. The Aspen Area Community Trust is a nonprofit set up to acquire or steward commercial property, offer affordable leases, and use deed restrictions to keep locally serving businesses open or bring back ones that have left. Board president Ann Mullins, a former city councilor, told the Aspen Daily News the trust wants to keep existing businesses and also bring back lost services such as a laundromat, a pharmacy or a gas station.
The trust received its 501(c)(3) status from the IRS in mid-June 2026 and has contracted with the Aspen Community Foundation as its fiscal agent and technical advisor for two years. At its August update to council, the trust set two goals: hire an executive director by the end of the year, and preserve two to five properties within five years. Aspen Public Radio reported that the trust hopes to secure its first commercial property sometime in 2027, and Mullins described what that first deal has to do.
"You need your first big win, and then you can show that to people, and then you should start getting some funds to expand your programs."
A pharmacy is on the trust's list of services to bring back, and that makes the Carl's sale easier to read. Under the buyers' stated plans, a downtown pharmacy stays open with no trust involved, because the family went looking for buyers who would keep it running.
Aspen already has one older tool. According to the Aspen Daily News, the city's 2017 formula-retail rule requires conditional-use review for qualifying chains, but only in future developments. Existing buildings and projects already in the permit pipeline are exempt. That is why the newer efforts focus on owning or controlling the space itself.
The Errand Run This Winter
There's also a practical change for anyone parking downtown before the lifts open. Starting Nov. 1, the city shortened the winter no-overnight-parking window in the commercial core by an hour, The Aspen Times reported. The city described the change as support for local businesses and for people who head out early to ski or skin.
- Hours: No overnight parking from 3 to 6 a.m., down from 3 to 7 a.m., in effect Nov. 1 through April 1.
- Grace period: Warnings through Nov. 15.
- Fines: $100 after Nov. 15, up from $75 last year.
- Snow nights: Cars parked overnight during a snow event can be towed, with fees up to $260.
Council Member Sam Rose raised the change at a council work session. He recalled the city "having issues" with people skinning up the mountain who needed to park early enough to get up before it opened. Through April 1, a car parked in the core overnight has to be moved by 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m.
If you own commercial or residential property in the core and want to talk through what a sale or lease renewal could mean for the business inside it, Brittanie Rockhill is glad to have that conversation. Schedule a confidential consultation.
