Boulder Stronger: Hundreds of gather in support of King Soopers reopening

BOULDER — “We love you, South Boulder! SoBo!” Sheri Bosman, manager of the Table Mesa King Soopers store in Boulder, said Wednesday.

She choked back tears as she addressed a crowd of hundreds gathered around a podium in front of the store to celebrate its reopening nearly a year after a gunman killed 10 neighbors mere feet away.

Moments earlier, she’d embraced Margie Whittington, the mother of slain King Soopers employee Teri Leiker. The two women clung to one another for support throughout Wednesday’s reopening and remembrance ceremony. 

“It is time to move forward together, because together we are stronger,” Bosman said to hearty applause.

“It’s been a tough, tough year, especially for this community,” King Soopers media-relations director Jessica Trowbridge said. “We’ve been through a lot together. We’ve faced tragedy and continue to grieve and heal together. We’ve continued to navigate a global pandemic. And most recently, this community has endured the devastation of the Marshall Fire.”

Boulder met these challenges with “tenacity, strength and resilience,” she said.

Wednesday’s event — which culminated in a rush of customers flooding through the redesigned entrance of the grocery store, not so much there to check items off their shopping lists but to show community support for the tragedy-stricken workplace — was a roller coaster of emotions.

Before the official program began, there was a feeling that struck a chord that sounded almost joyous — punch drunk Boulderites taking a rare opportunity to gather with neighbors made distant by the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 pandemic.

But as King Soopers employees — many of them on duty on the afternoon of March 22, 2021, when suspect Ahmad Al Aliwi Al-Issa began shooting — stepped before them, the mood in the crowd grew somber, the air tinged with grief tempered by the opportunity for healing. 

Foremost in mind were the victims: Tralona Bartkowiak, Suzanne Fountain, Teri Leiker, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray, Rikki Olds, Neven Stanisic, Denny Stong, Eric Talley and Jody Waters.

“It’s my hope that we will change our anger and grief into courage and resolve to confront the difficult issues of the day,” Boulder mayor Aaron Brockett said. 

Gov. Jared Polis, himself a Boulderite, called Wednesday’s reopening “a turning point for our community to move forward.”

The community moves forward with a completely redesigned King Soopers in South Boulder. 

Input from those associates was taken into account when making changes to the Table Mesa store, which include:

• Large new windows along the front entrance to enhance natural light.
• A new entrance vestibule with a mural of the Flatirons that creates a centralized point of entry.
• Reconfigured parking lot.
• Raised ceilings.
• Expanded produce and meat departments.
• New flooring.
• Updated break area decorated in a Denver Broncos theme.

King Soopers is also in the process of building a memorial tree-garden area to honor the people killed in last year’s attack. The remembrance garden — which will include 10 trees to signify the 10 lives lost —  is expected to be complete by June. 

“I’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time,” Bosman said.

So after a year of grief, it’s back to work.

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