Where Pearl Convenience Went, and Who Is Moving Into 1640 Pearl Before the Holiday Lights

If you head to 1640 Pearl Street for the corner market, you'll find it's gone. It hasn't closed. Pearl Convenience Market now runs a block east at 1711 Pearl St., with new owners, more room and a call out to local artists. The space it left is being fitted out for Framebridge, the national custom-framing company. A few doors down, Peak Design has a "Coming Soon" sign on a store in the 1600 block.

Across the street, Bliss is still at 1643 Pearl after more than 20 years. Its owner told Boulder Reporting Lab in September that the shop is fighting to stay open.

Taken together, the changes on the 1600 block point to one cause. On Pearl Street in 2026, the price of a lease decided who stayed. Several local businesses that lost their storefronts are still around at a new address. Knowing where they went matters most in the five weeks before the mall lights come on.

One lease set off three moves

The Pearl Convenience story starts with a sale. Kristine and Tony Halley, a married couple, bought the specialty mini-market in May. They planned to keep it at 1640 Pearl. Kristine Halley explained to Boulder Reporting Lab why that changed: "We enjoyed the location at 1640 Pearl Street and hoped to stay, but the proposed lease terms were significantly higher than what made sense for the business."

The store held its reopening at 1711 Pearl from June 5 to 7. That space had its own recent history. After the bag company Sherpani went online-only and the storefront sat empty for months, the property owner leased it at a steep discount, month to month, to arts groups. Either side could end that deal with 30 days' notice if a long-term tenant came along.

The Crowd Collective, a North Boulder arts nonprofit, ran it first as Crowd on Pearl. The shop sold houseplants and work by its artists and hosted a collage club twice a month. It closed after eight months, and the Crowd moved out in February 2026. Next came Sweetbird Studio, artist Nancy Anderson's jewelry company, which opened in early April with work by more than 50 Boulder County artists. A week after its grand opening, the property manager gave notice that a market-rate tenant had signed a multi-year lease. That tenant was Pearl Convenience.

So one lease negotiation at 1640 moved the corner market, ended the low-rent art space at 1711 and opened a prime corner to a national brand. At 1711, Halley has since put out a call for artists and told Boulder Reporting Lab, "We'd really like it to become a place where people can discover what's being created in Boulder."

The 1600 and 1700 blocks, address by address

Here is the map as of the most recent reporting. Some of these storefronts were still changing at the time.

Peak Design's Boulder store page lists the Suite 106 address. Nothing published so far gives a Framebridge opening date. Expect either storefront to change between now and Thanksgiving.

Across the street at 1643

Bliss has been at 1643 Pearl since 2005. Hanna Harem joined the staff in 2011 and became the owner in 2020. The shop carries work by more than a dozen local painters, jewelry designers, ceramicists and woodworkers. Watercolorist Andrew Barker has sold through Bliss for six years, and it was the first store to carry his paintings.

Rent is only one line in a downtown shop's budget. Payroll, insurance, utilities, card processing fees, taxes and inventory all come on top of it, and Harem told Boulder Reporting Lab that foot traffic and spending have grown less predictable each year. She summed up the pressure this way: "There is very little room for a small business to have a slow month anymore."

The same reporting gives the wider picture. John Tayer, president and CEO of the Boulder Chamber, pointed to inflation, import tariffs and higher labor costs at the same time shoppers are pulling back. He also pushed back on the idea that independents are vanishing from downtown:

"Downtown, we're hovering around 70% or more local, independent businesses, and that's characteristic of the entire community."

Most of downtown is still locally owned, and the independents still on the 1600 block are the ones feeling the pressure that sent Pearl Convenience down the street.

The same pattern on other blocks

The 1600 block isn't the only place this happened this year. At 1500 Pearl St., Boulder Bazaar, the Nepalese and Tibetan gift shop run by Venus Sakha, closed Aug. 31 after nearly 20 years. Sakha told Boulder Reporting Lab that shoppers balked even at discounts: "They like it, but they say, 'Oh, it's very hard to afford.'" At the west end of the mall, the women's clothing brand Reformation opened at 1142 Pearl St.

Off the mall, the clearest example of a business moving instead of ending is the Dark Horse. The bar and grill closed March 14, 2026, after 51 years on Baseline Road. Crews began tearing down the building on Oct. 8, and the Daily Camera photographed people stopping to film it. The bar plans to reopen in Louisville, near U.S. 36 and McCaslin Boulevard.

Downtown also gained a place this year. Boulder chef Edwin Zoe opened San San at 2014 10th St., just off the mall. Westword described it as "elevated American Chinese," with an 80-seat dining room and full bar. The Daily Camera reported the soft launch in early August and listed hours of 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

A holiday route for this year's map

The Downtown Boulder Partnership's Light Up the Holidays calendar has three dates that line up with the stores above.

1. Sunday, Nov. 22: Switch on the Holidays. It runs 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and centers on the 1300 block. A Cookie Crawl at participating downtown businesses goes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., while supplies last. At 5 p.m. the lights come on along the Pearl Street Mall, the Civic Area and around the Boulder County Courthouse. Free visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus run at the Downtown Boulder Visitor Information Center until 7 p.m.
2. Friday, Nov. 27 through Sunday, Nov. 29: Small Business Saturday Weekend. This is the weekend to walk the 1600 and 1700 blocks. Bliss at 1643 and Pearl Convenience at 1711 sit about a block apart, and both sell local artists' work.
3. Saturday, Dec. 12: Lights of December Parade, 6 to 7:30 p.m. San San is just off the mall on 10th Street for dinner before or after.

Opening dates for Framebridge and Peak Design hadn't been announced at last report. By lighting day, the 1600 block may look different again.

Storefronts on Pearl change hands because of lease terms, and the same pressures shape what homes cost a few blocks away. With 30+ years of Colorado real estate and construction experience, Nick Evancich and THE LIST follow both. If you own near downtown Boulder and want to know what your place is worth this season, let's connect. Start with a free home valuation.