At 3978 S. Broadway, the baseball slugger sign from the building's years as Broadways Tavern is still up. The building is now Merrick Brothers Books, a used-book store run by siblings Aaron, Will and Heather Merrick. Aaron is a retired oil-and-gas executive. He told the Littleton Independent that some people spend retirement on golf, and he spends his on books. About a mile and a half up the same street, a romance-only bookstore and cafe opened on September 13. Between those two shops runs a monthly art walk that Englewood now serves with its own free bus.
That bus says a lot about how the corridor works this fall. Englewood's creative businesses are spread along a long stretch of Broadway and the streets just west of it. Over the past year, the people building on that stretch have been independent owners, gallery operators and a city transit program. The larger civic projects on Old Hampden and at CityCenter are still on hold or waiting for design.
A gallery hop too spread out to walk
Second Saturday started last year. Nicole Korbe, owner of NKollectiv Gallery, pitched a monthly gallery hop to nearby galleries, and they signed on. In an interview with CPR News, the organizers named the obvious problem. Galleries on Denver's Santa Fe Drive sit within walking distance of each other. Englewood's don't, so a night of gallery-hopping meant parking, visiting, getting back in the car and doing it again.
Korbe, Hayley L. Schneider of SeeSaw Gallery and Timothea Biermann of Blue Tile Gallery asked the city's Cultural Arts Commission, the Downtown Development Authority and the Economic Development Department for help. The city answered in June 2026 with a dedicated bus on bert, the free Bringing Englewood Riders Together shuttle, running only on Second Saturdays. Here's the route as Will Slate, Englewood's Economic Development manager, described it to CPR:
- It loops along Broadway, S. Navajo Street and S. Kalamath Street, between Belleview Avenue and W. Floyd Avenue.
- It runs from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- It seats 36 riders and is wheelchair accessible.
- It makes seven stops, each marked with an A-frame or street-post sign showing bus times.
"We had a unique opportunity to tap into additional funding, which is not always the case, especially nowadays for cities and operations, to support some of that energy." Will Slate, City of Englewood, speaking to CPR News
Slate called that funding money the city had "this year." EASEL, the art space connected to NKollectiv, still lists the bert Second Saturdays route on its event page and notes that it differs from the regular bert route. Before you plan around the shuttle, check the current route map on that page.
What's on the loop for October 10
The city calendar lists the October Art Walk on Saturday, October 10, across Englewood, with Korbe and Schneider as organizers. Expect pop-ups, music, gallery and studio events, classes and demos, plus food and drink specials. Two other events are scheduled the same day on Broadway.
| Time on Oct. 10 | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. | Old School Cool Vintage Market | Spaceship Building parking lot, 3501 S. Broadway |
| 1 to 3 p.m. | Art in All Its Forms | Between Western Sky Bar & Taproom and BMO, 4361 S. Broadway |
| Varies by venue | Second Saturday Art Walk | Participating galleries and businesses citywide |
Old School Cool brings local vendors with curated vintage and upcycled clothing, antiques and collectibles. The market runs on the second Saturday of each month from April through November, so after October 10 there's one more market this season. Art in All Its Forms promises live mural painting, flash tattoos, music, interactive activities and local art.
EASEL's directory of Second Saturday businesses includes Mutiny Comics & Coffee, Merrick Brothers Books, NKollectiv Gallery and Blue Tile Art Gallery. The page notes that the directory covers past and present participants and that the lineup changes month to month. Treat it as a map of where things tend to happen, and check a venue's own channels before counting on it.
The new stops, north to south
The art walk gets more interesting when the shops between galleries give you a reason to get off the bus. Over the past seven months, the Englewood stretch of South Broadway has added several, listed here by address:
- Good Girl Cafe and Bookstore, 2807 S. Broadway. Opened September 13 after construction and permitting delays pushed back its planned July opening. Shelves are sorted by romance subgenre, including LGBTQIA+, Disability, Dark Romance, Contemporary and Local. The cafe names its drinks after romance tropes. "The Slap Shot" is a chai latte with espresso, and "The Golden Retriever" is a honey and cinnamon latte.
- The Barn South Broadway, 3299 S. Broadway. A family-friendly American restaurant with a full bar, open by late March 2026 in the former Whiskey Biscuit space.
- Sukiya Ramen, 3401 S. Broadway, and Wapos Cantina, 3495 S. Broadway. Westword listed both among the Englewood openings in March 2026.
- Merrick Brothers Books, 3978 S. Broadway. Held a two-day grand opening on July 24 and 25. The checkout counter is an antique cash register from the Merricks' father's shoe store.
That makes two bookstores on the same street in one summer, each a personal project. Good Girl owner Meg Garcia-Jahrman told the Littleton Independent that she had long wanted to open the coffee shop and bookstore and had read more than 400 books in two years.
The Gothic Theatre, a former movie house now run by AEG Presents as a live-music venue, is still the corridor's best-known landmark. The newer additions are smaller and owner-run, and they cluster along the same street the shuttle covers.
Why Broadway is carrying the season
The Broadway openings stand out more this fall because two bigger projects are moving slowly.
On July 20, Englewood City Council voted not to award the construction contract for the Old Hampden Complete Streets project. The city says the project won't go forward as planned, though some improvements may come back later as separate projects. Separately, Englewood Utilities scheduled six to eight weeks of stormwater work on Old Hampden from mid-August into October. The plan closes Old Hampden between Grant and Lincoln streets, west of Swedish Medical Center, along with the Sherman, Lincoln and Grant intersections. A final phase of up to three weeks, planned for this fall, will close the south end of Lincoln Street near Little Dry Creek. Schedules like this tend to shift, so check the city's project page for current detours before driving that way.
At CityCenter, the city's September 29 update describes conceptual options that include housing, local retail, a hotel, expanded parks, an outdoor performance venue and a beer garden. No master plan has been chosen yet, and Phase 1 design is expected in early 2027. The groundwork is in place. On February 5, the city took title to the former 24-Hour Fitness building and the ArtWalk plaza retail. For now, though, CityCenter's performance venue and beer garden are concepts.
Over on East Hampden, the past month showed what one operator can pull together on her own block. Chef Dana Rodriguez marked the first anniversary of Work & Class Englewood, at Grow + Gather at 900 E. Hampden Ave., with a September 25 street party that benefited the Craig Foundation. Osteria Alberico, Tai Tai Japanese and Hawaiian, Zomo and Cochino Taco joined in. Her Dayshift cafe serves breakfast and lunch daily until 4 p.m., when Work & Class opens for dinner Monday through Saturday.
The rest of October on the city calendar
Two more city-listed dates fill out the month. ColoRADscape Fall Fest runs Saturday, October 3, with an informational event from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Trunk or Treat Express is Saturday, October 24, from 1 to 6 p.m.
To plan October 10, start at 3501 S. Broadway when the vintage market opens at 10 a.m. Ride the bert loop north toward 2807 S. Broadway and south toward Floyd and Belleview, and arrive at 4361 S. Broadway between 1 and 3 p.m. for the live mural painting.
If you're curious how new shops like these shape the blocks around them, or what that means for your own place nearby, John Chrisbens is glad to talk it through over coffee somewhere on Broadway. Let's Connect.
