Cherry Creek Village Inn, we hardly knew ye
Besides the Burger King on St. Paul, the most incongruous business in Swankville, Colo., (Cherry Creek North, that is) was always the Village Inn on Columbine. I remember thinking as a high school kid driving by the place, “Well, how high-class can this place be if it has a huge Village Inn sitting on prime real estate?”
Now, whenever I have to venture into the Creek, it’s a visual equalizer, bringing a little bit of reality into the vortex of money, power, luxury cars and hair gel and reminding me that the lowest common denominator between humans can be as simple as an Ultimate Breakfast.
But now, the Columbine Street Village Inn is one of four Colorado casualties (56 national) of the bankruptcy of Vicorp, the Denver-based parent company of the chain.
I understand shuttering underperforming businesses to cut costs, blah blah blah, but seriously, how can such an embattled company spare TWO VILLAGE INNS within a BLOCK AND A HALF of each other? Do Denver residents really have such a fear of crossing Colorado Boulevard that they must have a Village Inn on both the west and east sides? Maybe on the giant map of every Village Inn in the world that hangs in the Vicorp board room the little pushpins for these two locations are just so close together that the executives rightly assumed that no one would be crazy/stupid enough to open two franchises so close to each other and that there must only be one of them.
Even though a short stack from your kitchens never passed these lips, I bid a peaceful goodbye to you, Cherry Creek Village Inn. May the yoga studio/oxygen bar/faux English pub/maternity bridal wear boutique/Starbucks/children’s Pilates gym that will take your place forever feel your presence.
The surprising/awesome part is that BOTH of the ones within like a quarter-mile of each other on Colorado are going to be spared.
I don’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t able to say “no let’s go to the GOOD one” in reference to one of the two identical Village Inn twins.