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Showing posts from February, 2024

Ruby Juice has new owners, will rebrand to WYOgrown MicroGREENS & THINGS!

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Coming Soon: Wyogrown Microgreens and Things sign displayed in front window - Optopolis A new owner has purchased Ruby Juice and has plans to not only keep the ideals from Ruby Juice, but also to expand upon it under the new name, Wyogrown Microgreens and Things. A bit of history and recent events Ruby Juice was originally owned by Jay and Peggy Harnish although in later years (including 2016), Peggy was listed as the only owner according to their BlogSpot page . Ruby Juice opened around the early to mid-2000s. This was quite sometime after the build date of the building--about 1924 as noted in the Laramie County Property Assessor's GIS map. In April 2019 and as noted by the Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority , Kathryn, Tyler, and Warren Child took over the business. According to a worker that worked for Ruby Juice under the Child's family, Tyler was the main person who kept Ruby Juice running through the pandemic, taking advantage of delivery and pickup options. The ...

King Soopers Curbside Pickup moved to Hallmark Gold Crown

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"Pickup Parking Available Behind Building" painted sign on former Hallmark - Optopolis A new painted sign at Cheyenne's King Soopers indicates that the curbside pickup area (formerly Click List) has moved to a new location on the property. The old Hallmark Gold Crown is no longer vacant, and you'll have to go to a different part of the property for your curbside service. A little bit of history The plaza where Cheyenne's King Soopers is located was built around the turn of the century with the Laramie County Property Assessor GIS map noting a build date of 2000. The space just east of King Soopers had been occupied by a Hallmark Gold Crown store for a great number of years (since at least the mid-2000s). Hallmark Gold Crown seen in 2018 - Google Maps Street View King Soopers, on the other hand, appears to be original to its space and used to operate twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week. They shifted away from the twenty-four hour model in 2017 , two year...

Jersey Mike's is about to open in Cheyenne!

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Jersey Mike's Subs sign displayed in the window of their new Cheyenne storefront - Optopolis Their sign is on the building, the construction of the interior is virtually complete, and the restaurant is just about ready to open, and it's slated to open on February 28th! A glimpse at the history There's not too much to say about the space where Jersey Mike's is opening on Prairie Avenue; Lowe's Home Improvement was built in the year 2002 as noted in the Laramie County Property Assessor's GIS map. Fast forward to December 2021, Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers would be actively working on plans to build a location on one of the outlots in front of Lowe's. Freddy's opened to the general public on July 11th, 2023 (video from that day below). By the time the video embedded above was captured, it was already well known that Jersey Mike's Subs would be coming to Cheyenne; permits had already been submitted to the Cheyenne City Planning websit...

Dutch Bros Coffee is coming to Cheyenne (for real)

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Dutch Bros Coffee sign on the North Lincoln Avenue location in Loveland, Colorado - Optopolis That's right, Dutch Bros Coffee is trying again, and it looks significantly more promising this time around! A Dutch Bros location is slated to be built along East Pershing Boulevard just west of the Pershing Marketplace. Previous events with Dutch Bros and Cheyenne Back in late 2021, site plans visible in the Cheyenne City Planning and Development website indicated the old Dell Range Rolando's Mexican Grill would be demolished and that Dutch Bros was planning to build a restaurant there. View of former Rolando's on Dell Range - Optopolis About a year later in late 2022, there was a "Building Permit Reimbursement" item added to one of the permits, requesting closure of the account and reimbursement of the building permit at the site of the former Fernando's. Not long after, the former Fernando's was put back on the market, and a temporary sign advertising the lo...

New embroidery shop, Compass Rose, opens at Frontier Mall

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A view of Compass Rose Embroidery and Engraving, seen last Saturday - Optopolis In a recent visit to the Frontier Mall last Saturday, it was discovered here at Optopolis that a new embroidery shop had opened at the Frontier Mall, and it's already open! A glance at the history of the space Located at the west end of the mall, space 8 in the Frontier Mall was previously occupied by Pashmina & Gifts as is displayed in street view imagery captured back when Pet City was still located across the hallway. In 2019, Frontier Mall and Paradise Pool Leagues of Cheyenne " teamed up to open...a new place for the Juniors and kids to have a place to play pool," called RAILS. The new storefront included pool tables along with a skee ball machine. This was until 2023 when Bumpers Arcade and RAILS combined forces in a relocation from their previous locations into a single storefront--the former DEB that was more recently occupied by All Wild Western (just across the hall from JoAnn...

Family-owned Marky's Meat Market expanding to Cheyenne!

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Marky's Meat Market Coming soon sign posted in window - Optopolis Marky's Meat Market plans to take over Wyoming Ranch Foods' Cheyenne location on East 19th Street just east of Warren Avenue, and Marky's hopes to open their new location in the coming weeks! Glance at the history As discussed previously here on Optopolis , the building where Wyoming Ranch Foods resided was built around 1947 according to the property assessor. Winters Griffith Architects shared with Optopolis in 2022 that the "warehouse" long-ago used to be a carriage barn and that (also long ago) a very early occupant of the property was Warren Livestock Company. TOP: Pony X-Press | BOTTOM: Minuteman Press - Google Maps Street View In more recent years, the building has been occupied by Pony X-Press Printing Center and, later, Minuteman Press. In 2021, Winters Griffith Architects set up their offices in the east part of the building, leaving a vacant tenant space that they could potentially ren...

Spice Zone Indian Restaurant is replacing Dynasty Cafe!

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Spice Zone Indian Restaurant banner sign posted onto former Dynasty Cafe, seen in late 2023 - Optopolis A new sign has appeared on the facade of the former Dynasty Cafe, with the name of Spice Zone Indian Restaurant. The new restaurant is opening tomorrow! A glimpse of history: City Cafe/Dynasty Cafe The Laramie County Property Assessor notes that the building was built in 1973. As of the years 1977 and 1979 , a restaurant called City Cafe Oriental & American Dinners was present in the building. Fast forward to the early 2000s, Dynasty Cafe Chinese and Vietnamese would set up their business name in 2002 as is noted in the Wyoming Business Filing Search . In 2019, a family member would take over owning the restaurant due to the previous owner passing away. Around October 2021, the restaurant closed with plans to remodel, planning to reopen on October 25th, 2021. Unfortunately, that never ended up happening, with the building eventually being listed for sale. As seen in the video emb...

DKG 40th Annual Used Booksale at Big Lots for 2024!

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DKG Used Book Sale sign seen in the window of the old Big Lots store in Feb 2024 - Optopolis Delta Kappa Gamma is holding their 40th annual used book sale on the first two weekends in March! This year, it'll be in the Big Lots. More information and where to donate books can be found below! A glimpse at DKG and their previous book sales Delta Kappa Gamma is an organization whose mission is "leading women educators impacting education worldwide." Each year (coming up on 41 years now except 2021 due to the pandemic), the DKG Upsilon Chapter has held a used book sale that raises money for local education programs in Laramie County. A view of the Inspiration section inside the former Taco Johns during the 39th Annual Used Book Sale. - Optopolis According to a comment by Nicole Kang on Nicole's Facebook post that includes the flier for the 40th Annual used book sale, some of these causes include the "Children's Village, Boys and Girl's Clubs, and thousands of...