Eads News and Smoke closes after 100 years

BOULDER – Eads News and Smoke Shop, an iconic retailer in Boulder that would have celebrated its centennial this year but whose future had been in question for months, has officially closed.

“Eads News and Smoke has closed its doors after a century of business in Boulder,” its owner posted on the store’s Facebook page Sunday, “We thank all the patrons who have shopped here.”

Kristian Hartter was among those lamenting the newsstand’s passing on Facebook. “A truly sad day. My grandfather was owner for 40 years, ending in the 1990s,” she wrote. “I worked there for 10 years on-and-off. With the current attitudes toward tobacco and the shift in tech regarding information delivery, it is no surprise. That does not mitigate my sense of loss.”

The shop’s last day was marked by banners proclaiming that the shop was “closing after 100 years” and advertising cigars for up to 75 percent off.

A “for sale” sign went up on the shop on the northwest corner of 28th Street and Canyon Boulevard late last spring, shortly after developer Scott Pedersen submitted a proposal to build two hotels on the site of the Best Western Golden Buff Lodge, which is just northwest of Eads.

Husband and wife Kim Yanke and Arlene Veblen bought Eads from Owen Locke in 2006. Yanke died in 2009. The store opened in 1913.

Lou Della Cava, a real estate developer, owns the Eads building.

Pedersen Development Co. is under contract to acquire the Golden Buff property and plans to build two hotels – a 212-room full-service hotel and a 137-room extended stay hotel – if its plans go through.

Pedersen’s proposal is not the first redevelopment plan for the site. In the mid-2000s, Della Cava and Urban Frontier Inc. had plans for a joint redevelopment project there, which would include 284,060 square feet of office and retail space. That plan would have included the Eads News and Smoke Shop building. That plan stalled when the recession hit and the developer then had trouble finding major tenants that would prelease the buildings years in advance of completion and occupancy.

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