Colorado Boulevard Mini-Mall Comes of Age

As mini-malls in Eagle Rock go, there’s something noteworthy about the row of stores stretching from Organix on 1731 Colorado Blvd. to Domino’s Pizza on 1759 Colorado Blvd.

Barely 11 months ago, when Organix was setting up shop on the eastern edge of the nameless mini-mall across the boulevard from the Italian Bakery, several spaces lay empty. Given that about four months earlier, the Xchange, a women’s resale clothing and accessories store, had replaced a construction contractors’ licensing school, who was to say what kind of businesses would fill in the vacuum or how long they would last.

Since then, a popular Japanese café (Masacasa) and Mandarin and Szechuan cuisine restaurant (Eagle Rock Green Dragon) have opened, joining the venerable Blue Hen and expanding the mall’s culinary offerings beyond comfort Vietnamese food. And although Elvira’s Homemade Mexican Food closed in early 2012, every Tuesday, Plant Food For People, a pop-up taqueria, sells mouthwatering vegan carnitas-style tacos from a stall in front of Organix.

There’s even a new hair salon (Dynasty Cuts). And although a “Health Center” offering “acupressure” services does suggest that Eagle Rock’s mini-malls remain vulnerable to the crush of massage parlors, a number of other stores have been thriving under local patronage—an encouraging sign of Eagle Rock's business environment.

“Business has been very good,” said Organix founder and owner Andrew Perez, admitting that sales have been relatively slow lately because many regular customers are on vacation. “We are grateful to the people of Eagle Rock.”