"We think there are some other ways we can activate the street besides dinner and the farmers market on Sunday." Kevin Rifkin said that to the Denver Post in July, when he and his partner Greg Bechler filed plans for a new building at 1550 S. Pearl St. He was talking about his own project. His sentence also describes most of what changed on Old South Pearl Street this year. A bakery moved in with an all-day menu. A pub reopened under new owners with games and live music. The street's longest-running shop owner cut back, and she said slower weekday and weekend foot traffic was one reason. Every move in 2026 has been about the same few hours.
South Pearl in 2026, by Address
| Address | What happened | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1101 S. Pearl St. | Dry Dock Pub opens in the former Pub on Pearl space | May 27, 2026 |
| 1240 S. Pearl St. | Reunion Bakery opens its larger café, moving from The Source | Early May 2026 |
| 1550 S. Pearl St. | Outwest Investments proposes a two-story building with a ground-floor restaurant | Proposal filed July 2026 |
| 5 Green Boxes | Gift shop closes after 27 years | End of March 2026 |
Fifty Years Behind the Counter
Start with the person who has watched this street the longest. Charlotte Elich opened 5 Green Boxes on South Pearl 27 years ago and added a shop inside Union Station in 2014. She told BusinessDen she first came to the block at 23. "That's 50 years ago," she said. "Things have changed and I feel like I need to pare things down and start thinking about my life."
What she described is a problem of hours. Sales grew every year from the 1999 opening until the start of the pandemic. Then foot traffic fell over the next five years, and margins and revenue fell with it. Her staff went from seven before the pandemic to two. She dropped the extra weekend hours because not enough people were walking by to pay for them. A gift shop needs people strolling in on a Tuesday afternoon. For a stretch of years, there weren't enough of them.
Elich hasn't left Pearl entirely. Her women's apparel boutique was staying open in Platt Park, at least for the time being. She also planned to host pop-ups at 1705 S. Pearl, a building she owns. So the space may now open for events on certain dates rather than keep regular retail hours. That model fits a street where the crowds come at predictable times.
A Bakery That Keeps Daytime Hours
The biggest food arrival of the year went straight at the daytime gap. James Beard-nominated baker Ismael de Sousa opened Reunion Bakery's new home at 1240 S. Pearl St. in early May. He first launched Reunion inside The Source market hall in 2018. The Denver Gazette covered the opening on May 5, after what it called "months of planning, permitting and proofing."
The larger space let Reunion become a place to eat, beyond a place to pick up bread. Axios Denver listed what the bigger footprint added:
- The "Eggsession," an open-faced sourdough sandwich with soft-scrambled eggs and a choice of bacon or lox
- A kale salad inspired by fattoush, with Kalamata olives, goat cheese and sourdough croutons
- A refrigerated case of cream puffs and tarts in rotating flavors like lemon meringue and mango choux
- Fresh bread service Wednesday through Sunday
The pastel de nata is still the order Axios called a must. The blue corn masa blueberry cookie and the dark chocolate babka are worth getting when they're in the case. The open kitchen lets customers watch the baking throughout the day, and de Sousa designed it that way to show everything is made from scratch in-house.
De Sousa told the Gazette that South Pearl Street "feels more like a community" than RiNo. His bakery also connects to the street's busiest morning. Reunion is a regular vendor at the South Pearl Street Farmers Market, so the same pastries show up on Sundays when the line at the shop runs long. The market brings people to Pearl, and the café gives them a reason to come back on a Wednesday.
The North End Gets Its Pub Back
At the Wash Park end of the street, the year's other opening kept a familiar address in use. Dry Dock Brewing announced in January that it would open a taproom at 1101 S. Pearl St., with Left Hand Brewing Collective running operations. Co-founder Michelle Reding said the company wanted to carry on the legacy of the pub that came before it. That same month, BusinessDen reported that Reding and seven relatives and friends had bought the building for $2.5 million.
Dry Dock Pub opened on May 27 in the former Pub on Pearl space. Co-founders Reding and Kevin DeLange run it within Left Hand Collective, which Eric Wallace founded. According to Westword, it has pub food, a bar, games and live music. The Denver Post's January announcement also included an outdoor patio. Games and live music give people reasons to stay after the meal or come in without planning dinner at all, and that's the kind of activity Rifkin described.
Both 2026 food openings filled spaces that already had a history. The bakery took a larger space on the street, and the pub took over a bar's address. Neither required a new building. The next restaurant on Pearl will.
The Restaurant Slot at 1550
Outwest Investments, the firm Rifkin and Bechler run, bought 1550 S. Pearl in May for $1.6 million from a group of physical therapists who had operated there. The two Denver natives submitted a proposal in July for a two-story replacement. The ground floor would hold a 2,500-square-foot restaurant and a 4,300-square-foot parking garage, and the second floor would hold four or five offices. The existing building dates to 1963. Rifkin said he considered reusing it but found it in rough shape.
"We saw a need for something different from what's currently on the street," Rifkin said. In July, the restaurant tenant had not been finalized, though Rifkin promised it would be "very big news for south Denver." The July coverage named no tenant and gave no opening date.
The mix of uses in the proposal matters as much as the restaurant. Four or five offices upstairs would put people on the 1500 block on weekdays, and the garage would make it easier to stop by on a weeknight. A gift shop owner had to drop weekend hours. A developer is now designing for the weekday traffic she was missing.
Six Sundays Left
For now, the Sunday market is still the street's biggest draw, and its 2026 season is almost over. The South Pearl Street Farmers Market runs every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the 1400 and 1500 blocks, and its last day this season is November 8. The street association lists more than 170 local vendors, along with live music. Dogs need to stay home, because the market doesn't allow pets.
The rest of the fall calendar:
- Sundays, October 4 through November 8: six market mornings left, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Friday, October 30: the season's last Final Friday art walk, 5 p.m. to sundown on the 1400 to 1600 blocks.
- Done for the year: South Pearl's Oktoberfest took place September 12 at the Colorado Avenue entrance.
The street association hasn't posted its 2026 winter schedule yet. Its Winterfest page still shows last December's program.
After November 8, the street loses its biggest weekly draw until spring. This will be the first winter with both the new businesses open. Reunion's bread service runs Wednesday through Sunday, and Dry Dock Pub has games and live music. They'll show how many people still come to Pearl on weeknights and Saturdays once the market tents are gone.
Two buildings on Old South Pearl changed hands this year, at $2.5 million and $1.6 million, and new owners are now deciding what goes on the street. If you own near Pearl and want to understand how this year's openings and proposals could affect how your home is valued and marketed, Euan Graham keeps track of these changes block by block. Start a conversation whenever the timing feels right.
