Marczyk Fine Foods is known to many local foodies as Denver’s best market—just look at its house-baked breads and sweet treats, Niman Ranch meats, gourmet cheese and olive oil and spice selections, stellar prepared foods, and, well, we could go on and on. Soon, more Mile High City folk will be in close proximity to the deliciousness with the opening of a third store in south Denver. Residents of the I-25 and East Hampden Avenue area will get a market crush of their own when Marczyk’s takes over part of a former Safeway building in the Happy Canyon Shopping Center.

“We’ve been scouting that location for a long time. We’re not scientific about demographics, but we have a gut feeling and it feels really good to us,” owner Pete Marczyk says of expanding to the less urban area. “We think it’s an underserved part of town, and we’re psyched.”

The original Marczyk Fine Foods opened in 2002 at 17th Avenue and Clarkson Street, and Marczyk and wife Barbara Macfarlane opened a second location in 2011 at Colfax Avenue and Fairfax Street. (Oddly enough, the Colfax store was also an old Safeway building.)

The Happy Canyon store will be similar in layout and size to the existing markets; the main difference is that it won’t have a full commercial kitchen like the other two. Earlier this year, Marczyk and Macfarlane purchased a building in northeast Park Hill, which they’re renovating into a central commissary and bakery to supply the trio of markets with the breads, baked goods, and prepared foods that delight and thrill Denver food-lovers.

In terms of what to expect at the new market, Marczyk says to take a stroll around the existing stores. He’s not making any changes.

“We’re not looking to double our product mix. We have a tight, highly curated product mix as it is. Adding a bunch of items wouldn’t necessarily be successful for us,” he says.

South Denver shoppers shouldn’t ready their reusable grocery bags quite yet, though. The Happy Canyon Marczyk’s won’t open until late 2020.

Allyson Reedy
Allyson Reedy
Allyson Reedy is a freelance writer and ice cream fanatic living in Broomfield.