CHEYENNE / LOVELAND - WinCo Foods, a regional grocery and food store chain that has locations throughout the northwestern part of the United States, appears to be eyeing possible expansion to Cheyenne, Loveland, and other nearby cities; WinCo currently has no locations in either Wyoming or Colorado, but they have purchased land in multiple Front Range cities.
A glance at the history: WinCo
According to their history page, employees of WinCo in 1985 purchased a controlling stake in the company previously known as Waremart (which previously had become known for, "low prices, flat-carts, and grease pencils that customers had to use to write the price on each item"); the website says that, "the hard working men and women of Waremount established Winco Foods' Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)," acquiring the then-17-stores-large company.
 This WinCo Foods is located in Salem, Oregon, and it used to be branded as a Cub Foods - Andy's Retail Exploration |
After a company-wide vote in 1999, the name of the company was officially changed to WinCo Foods; apparently, however, three locations still bear the Waremart name, all located in Oregon according to WinCo's website. In 2019 (which is the final year discussed on the history page), WinCo entered Montana, "opening stores concurrently in Billings and Helena - [WinCo's] 125th and 126th stores, respectively."
Their store locator indicates that they have locations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma. It doesn't list any locations in New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, or either of the 'Dakota's--or anywhere west of Texas; no locations have been added just yet for Wyoming or Colorado, and no Wyoming or Colorado locations appear to be listed on their careers website.
 Checkout area inside of a WinCo store in Salem, Oregon; notice the reusable plastic bags (similar to what you see at Sprouts) and paper bags (similar to what you see at KingSoopers, Safeway, Albertsons, and others) - Andy's Retail Exploration |
Something that makes WinCo unusual is that they don't accept credit cards for payment, but they do accept debit cards that require a pin number (as well as cash and various other methods of payment). WinCo is a warehouse-style store that offers bulk foods, but unlike Sam's Club or Costco, no membership is required for visitors to shop at WinCo. Unlike Walmart and King Soopers (which both long-since moved away from 24-hour daily operation), WinCo stores are open 24 hours.
Expansion to Cheyenne?
According to a report by Cap City News' Klark Byrd posted in June 2025, a vote for a zone change at the Winco Subdivision and a neighboring lot of land located northwest of Sam's Club and east of the Frontier Mall Drive/Rue Terre intersection was set to take place, later being approved unanimously; it changed the then-county-located land's zoning from A1-Agricultural and Rural Residential to CB-Community Business--all "prior to potential annexation by the City of Cheyenne."
| TOP LEFT: View from Frontier Mall Dr and Rue Terre | TOP RIGHT: Laramie County notice of Development Action sign still present but faded BOTTOM LEFT: View of area from next to Sam's Club | BOTTOM RIGHT: View of Michael's, Sprouts, and others from vicinity of Winco property - Optopolis |
In August 2025, the land's annexation into city limits was added to the agenda before later being approved as noted in an article from KGAB/Town Square Media's Doug Randall. A document on the Cheyenne/WinCo project page confirms that the Winco subdivision is located directly along Rue Terre, neighboring Sam's Club, and it indicates future extension of the Frontier Mall Drive right of way to the northeast, also along the west edge of the Winco property.
Possible expansion to Loveland and two other Colorado cities
Back in February 2025, it was reported by BizWest's Lucas High that WinCo Foods was in the early planning stages for a store in Firestone, Colorado (east of Longmont and the Del Camino business area). In March 2025, it was reported that WinCo had submitted documents for an 84,000 square foot store in northern Thornton in the Larkridge shopping area. Both the Thornton and Firestone properties are vacant as of the time of writing, just like their Cheyenne lot of land discussed above.
In early September 2025, it was reported by K99's Matt Sparx that WinCo had purchased the former JAX east (formerly ShopKo) in Loveland.
| TOP LEFT: Original section of Loveland's JAX East | TOP RIGHT: JAX Expanded into this portion, previously a gym BOTTOM LEFT: Inside of original section of JAX after recent closure | BOTTOM RIGHT: Your local JAX moved sign redirects people to Loveland's JAX West, former Kmart - Optopolis |
JAX Outdoor Gear, Farm & Ranch previously only had one small store in Loveland, located inside of Loveland's former ShopKo building; after Kmart closed their doors permanently in April 2020, JAX expanded west into the former Loveland Kmart, at which point, the question began to arise over whether having two Loveland JAX stores was simply too many stores for a smaller city.
The gym in the former ShopKo building and neighboring JAX east closed, then JAX later expanded the store to use the entire ShopKo building. However, JAX recently closed their east-Loveland store, and now, the building is partially and temporarily occupied by Spirit Halloween which has already opened in the east side of the building.
| Various photos of Spirit Halloween inside of the former-gym-portion of JAX - Optopolis |
UPDATE 09-23: Casper, WY also slated to get a WinCo Foods
It has been discovered by Optopolis that WinCo is also looking to open a store in Casper, and that store may be around the start of construction. According to Oil City News' Dan Cepeda, WinCo is slated to build a location in the same area as the future Dick's Sporting Goods location. It appears that Casper's WinCo could open as soon as mid-2026!
When will the new stores open?
The answer to when the new stores will open is not currently known to Optopolis and appears to be up in the air as of the time of originally writing. None of the locations discussed herein have been added to the WinCo store locator, and there don't yet appear to be any jobs listed in the WinCo Careers website. It's worth noting that there is still the possibility that WinCo could back out of any of these locations at any time and for any reason. Assuming all goes well, it's also not clear which store may open first.
Let us know...
Do you think WinCo will actually open a store in Cheyenne? Have you ever visited a WinCo store before? Let us know in the comments!
PUBLISHED: 09/23/2025 at 11:00 AM MT
UPDATED: 09/23/2025 at 4:41 PM MT to add a touch of detail on Casper's soon-to-be WinCo.
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