Whole Foods Market plans to close Capitol Hill store

More bad news for Whole Foods Market fans: The two stores in Boulder and Colorado Springs already on the chopping block are not the chain’s only Front Range locations set to close this year.

The Whole Foods in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood will close this fall when the natural-foods grocer’s new Denver flagship opens near Union Station, a company spokeswoman confirmed Friday.

The closure was first reported Thursday by BusinessDen.

“Relocating to the new, larger Union Station store will allow us to provide a better shopping experience for our customers,” spokeswoman Betsy Harden said in an email. “Team members from the Capitol Hill store will automatically be transferred to Union Station.”

The Capitol Hill store, 900 E. 11th Ave., was one of six Denver-area Wild Oats stores that Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods kept open and switched to the Whole Foods banner after purchasing the Boulderbased grocer in 2007.

Smaller, older locations inherited through acquisition were the primary target of Whole Foods’ largest one-time store closure announcement in company history, made this month.

The new Union Station store at 17th and Wewatta streets will anchor a 580-unit luxury apartment complex just off the station’s train platform.

The 56,000-square-foot store will offer expanded catering and delivery tailored to the downtown business community and a second-floor balcony overlooking the train station as well as unique programming that “fits in with that downtown nightlife lifestyle,” officials have said.

According to BusinessDen, multiple employees at the Capitol Hill location reported that the company mentioned the possibility of converting the old store into a 365 by Whole Foods Market, the grocer’s new smaller, lower-cost concept.

Harden said Friday that nothing has been announced about the future of the Capitol Hill building.