But last week, she shuttered A Line Boutique’s store at 1750 Wewatta St., telling BusinessDen the location lost $400,000 last year.

“It never came back,” she said of the pre-pandemic environment downtown.

Berensten bought A Line in 2012 when it had a single location in Greenwood Village. Along with the store at the base of the Coloradan condominium complex, she added locations in Denver’s Cherry Creek, plus Salt Lake City and Carlsbad, California. She moved the original store in 2018 to the Denver Tech Center’s Belleview Station.

Those four stores are profitable, she said, selling designer brands like L’agence, Zimmermann and Max Mara. But with the 3,200-square-foot Union Station store deep in the red, she said, 2024 was the only year in her tenure that A Line’s overall sales numbers shrunk.

“Every other store grew, but Union Station dragged it down,” she said.

Berensten blames vagrancy and theft issues, and a lease she now sees as overpriced.

At a crossroads: Downtown Denver is waiting for its rebound

People have walked in and stolen thousands of dollars worth of purses, she said. Another woman stayed in the dressing room for hours past closing before finally running out the door with clothes. Berensten said building security has been unresponsive in the last few years and hiring her own private security guard would cost too much.

“Guys come in and grab a $2,000 purse and walk out. And then the police are like ‘Did anyone get hurt? No? Then file insurance if you want,’” she said. “We have homeless people sitting right against our door and no one will do anything. You would think they would. We have to keep the door locked and have a Ring doorbell.”

Since the pandemic, A Line’s Union Station spot has lost seven employees — compared to one across all her other stores — nearly all because they felt unsafe, Berensten said. One stylist even brought in bear spray for protection before she quit.

Berensten said she’s paying rent of $55 a square foot per year for the space along with utilities, property taxes and insurance as part of the 10-year lease she signed in 2019. She thinks the market value today is closer to $30 a foot, mainly because of the area’s decline in recent years.

“The current market rate is half of what our lease is. We’ve tried and tried and tried to get it negotiated, and (our landlord Ascentrist) wouldn’t even come to the table,” she said.

With A Line leaving, six of the 10 retail units at the Coloradan are available, according to a JLL listing. The restaurant Eggs Inc also closed there earlier this month after opening in January.

Berensten said the focus is now on her four other stores and continued out-of-state expansion, hopefully getting to a total of 10 stores. She thinks two spots is a good number for Colorado. A Line also closed a Castle Rock spot when its lease was up in March.

While her remaining stores are doing well, Berensten said it’s a challenging time in general for brick-and-mortar.

“Retail just doesn’t have margin, especially with tariffs now and online (shopping). It has never been worse in 13 years,” she said. “It wasn’t this hard during Covid. Everyone now expects not to pay full price.”

The 51-year-old former tech entrepreneur, who sold her consulting firm GB Synergy for millions at 33, also wants to expand A Line Experiences, whose trips include African horseback safaris and Paris Fashion Week excursions.

“I am a woman who has range,” she said. For a long time I felt like I needed to be in a box, be a working woman but be in a man’s world… You have to be able to go to the dark night of the soul.”

Read more from our partner, BusinessDen.

“PetSmart lured prospective dog groomers with promises of ‘free’ paid training, only to trap them into staying with the company,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement.

In a lawsuit filed in Denver District Court, Weiser’s office highlighted a half-dozen PetSmart ads claiming that its grooming academy was free. In reality, it cost either $5,000 or $5,500. If an employee stayed with PetSmart for at least one year after graduating, half of that cost was forgiven. If the employee stayed for two years, the full tuition was forgiven.

“For most associates, thousands of dollars was too high a cost to pay to leave their position,” the lawsuit states. “This meant that many associates stayed in their positions for two years, even if it meant giving up higher paying opportunities or better work environments.”

Meanwhile, training at the grooming academy was substandard, the government alleges. One Colorado employee showed her PetSmart grooming certificate to a prospective employer “who laughed and confirmed the certificate was not valid elsewhere,” Weiser’s office says.

The state’s lawsuit gets much use out of the name of the contract PetSmart grooming students were required to sign: a training repayment agreement provision, or TRAP.

Spokespeople for PetSmart, which has 35 stores in Colorado, declined to comment Tuesday.

The attorney general’s office is asking Judge Heidi Kutcher to prohibit PetSmart from collecting on debts from former grooming academy participants. It is also seeking penalties of up to $50,000 per TRAP, which it claims violates the Colorado Consumer Protection Act.

Read more at our partner, BusinessDen.

Wilding Brands, the local craft beverage conglomerate that bought 31-year-old Great Divide earlier this year, announced Tuesday that it will open a new spot for the brand at 3040 Blake St., #101 in Denver’s River North Arts District. It will take over the space currently home of Stem Ciders’ satellite location.

As the parent company of Stem Ciders, Wilding Brands already operates that space. It will close on Aug. 3 to begin renovations as it transitions into a beer bar and restaurant, according to the announcement.

The business will be run by Vibe Concepts, which currently operates the other three Great Divide locations in Castle Rock, Lone Tree and Lakewood.

Those restaurants serve primarily burgers, sandwiches and other pub grub to pair with beloved beers, like Yeti Imperial Stout and Denver Pale Ale. The Denver location will also serve wine and cocktails, as well as other beverages from Wilding’s portfolio, including Stem Ciders and Howdy Beer lager. Wilding also owns Station 26 Brewing, Denver Beer Co. and Funkwerks.

Unlike Great Divide’s previous spots, this one will not have brewing or packaging equipment of any kind. Great Divide’s beers are now brewed at Denver Beer Co.’s former production facility in Denver’s Sunnyside neighborhood. That facility is now run by Wilding.

“We’re proud to bring Great Divide back to central Denver with a new taproom and restaurant. Great Divide is a legacy in Colorado craft beer, with such a loyal following here in Denver and across the country,” said Eric Foster, CEO of Wilding Brands in a statement. “The RiNo location is designed to provide a fantastic experience, with a comfortable, inviting interior, great patio, full kitchen, and a huge variety of Great Divide and other Wilding craft beverages to enjoy.”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble offered an annual earnings outlook that was below analysts’ projections and said it would raise prices on about a quarter of its products in the U.S. in part due to higher costs from President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The assessment delivered Tuesday comes a day after the Cincinnati-based maker of such products as Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent and Charmin toilet paper, named Shailesh Jejurikar, currently chief operating officer, to succeed Jon Moeller as the company president and CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2026. Moeller, who has been at the company’s helm since November 2021, will become P&G’s executive chairman.

The price increases, which will be implemented starting next month, will be in the mid-single digit percentages and will also be combined with improved features in the products, P&G’s Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten told reporters on a call on Tuesday after the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter results.

In April P&G said it was doing whatever it could to reduce higher costs from Trump’s expansive tariffs, from shifting sourcing to changing formulation to avoid duties. Back then, Schulten told reporters on a call that the consumer products giant still would likely have to pass on higher prices to shoppers as early as July.

P&G on Tuesday estimated that tariffs will increase its costs by about $1 billion before tax for fiscal 2026.

The price increases come as P&G said its consumers have become more cautious, digging deeper into their pantry inventory before going on a shopping trip, focusing on larger pack sizes at clubs and focusing on deals.

“The consumer clearly is more selective in terms of shopping behavior in our categories, and we see a desire to find value,” Schulten told reporters Tuesday.

But Schulten believes that when price increases are combined with improved features on products they resonate with customers. He declined to give specifics but noted that with its baby care brand Luvs, the company boosted prices while making some improvements a few months ago, and it was able to increase market share.

P&G reported net income of $3.62 billion, or $1.48 per share, for the quarter ended June 30. That compares with $3.14 billion, or $1.27 per share, in the year-ago period. Analysts were expecting $1.42 per share, according to FactSet analysts.

Sales rose to $20.89 billion, in line with what analysts predicted. That was up from $20.53 billion in the year-ago quarter.

For the current year, P&G expects earnings per share in the range of $6.83 to $7.09. That was below the $7.23 per share that analysts predicted. The company expects annual sales to be up anywhere from 1% to 5% for the year.

You might have bought a squeeze bottle of Mike’s Hot Honey — perhaps the biggest and most well-known vendor on the speet (swicy?) scene — to have on hand at home when the craving hits.

But Colorado beekeepers and honey bosses don’t live under a hive, and many have recognized the trendy deliciousness of hot honey, so this is a product perfectly primed for buying locally (especially since local beekeepers tend to be heavily invested in supporting healthy bee populations and using sustainable practices that benefit both the earth and your tastebuds).

“I think the recent hot honey boom comes down to that perfect sweet and spicy combination that’s just universally appealing. It’s a classic flavor pairing that works on everything,” said Denver-based designer-turned-local honey entrepreneur Mike Lindholm.

Lindholm and his partners launched Honey House in late 2023, bottling up small-batch, artisanal honey from apiaries across the country (including Colorado Springs). One of their top sellers, of course, is Hot Honey, which was a success for the brand pretty much as soon as it was released.

Want to join the hot honey hive mind? Try one of these Colorado-based hot honeys to satiate your hankering for something speet. (Or swicy.)

Honey House Hot Honey

A habanero-based proprietary blend made with other top-secret supporting peppers, this hot honey is definitely spicy, without totally blowing out your tastebuds. “We spent over 150 iterations perfecting our Hot Honey recipe,” Lindholm said.

Where to buy: Leevers Locavore (2630 W. 38th Ave., Denver) and online

Björn’s Sweet and Spicy Colorado Honey

Whipped wildflower honey plus Pueblo-based Jojo’s OGX Red Jalapeño Sriracha equals a fiery flavor punch perfect for fried chicken, drizzling over stir fries, or licking straight out of the jar.

Where to buy: South Pearl and City Park Farmers’ Markets and Bjorn’s retail stores in Golden (1100 Washington Ave., Unit 101), Boulder (1101 Pearl St.) and Littleton (7301 S. Santa Fe Dr. #514)

Primo Whiskey Honey + Thai and Caramel Honey + Cayenne

Denver-based Primo makes awesomely unique condiments for the ultimate charcuterie board, including a spicy, caramelly jar of whiskey barrel-aged honey with Thai peppers, and a brand-new sea salt and cayenne version.

Where to buy: Whole Foods stores across Colorado and online

Honeyville Hot Honey

Each batch of Honeyville’s Hot Honey may vary with heat because of the unpredictability of the serrano peppers, but the sweetness of the Durango-sourced wildflower honey is forever.

Where to buy: At the Honeyville factory store (33633 Hwy 550, Durango) or online

Haefeli’s Infused Honey with Green Chili and Habanero

Sixth-generation Del Norte beekeepers infuse their honeys with two options for spice. The Hatch blend registers at about a four out of 10 on the heat scale, while the zestier habanero infusion clocks in at a seven.

Where to buy: Online

Local Hive Hot Honey

Not one, not two, but three different blends of hot honey all start with premium raw unfiltered honey. Next, pick your spice level: from the kicky jalapeño-based original, to the smoky chipotle, up to the downright fire Sriracha.

Where to buy: Front Range King Soopers and online

Colorado Hot Honey

Maybe as local as it gets, this Boulder County honey uses homegrown Pueblo Mirasol green chilis. So yeah, this is as Colorado as driving your Subaru down I-70 with your dog hanging out the back window.

Where to buy: Online and via their Etsy shop

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If you’ve got dogs lazing outside your storefront, chances are I’ll stop in.

Good thing I was going to Mike’s Bikes anyway. The East Denver location of the California-based chain is tucked behind an AMC Theatre, near the end of a nondescript block at Colorado Boulevard’s 9+Co. development. And yet biking enthusiasts pour in and out of the store every day, petting gentle sentries Scout (a labradoodle) and Peach (a bassett hound/lab/husky mix) as they rep the good vibes inside.

My 12-year-old son’s bike recently threw a gear, prompting not only a new bike search, but also new helmets for him, my daughter and me — of which Mike’s naturally carries various styles and price ranges. We opted for ones with Mips protection, a brain-safety layer that should be familiar to most cyclists, “designed to move slightly in the event of an impact (and) … redirect rotational motion away from the head,” according to Mips’ website.

Standard stuff at most bike shops, sure. And Colorado has no shortage of great ones (local chains, even!).

Non-standard, however, in my experience, was the kind, patient reception my 8-year-old daughter Lucy received. A friendly young employee walked her through bikes, helmets, gloves and more without the pressured sales pitch or superiority complex, giving my daughter space to envision herself speeding down the street on one of these many beautiful frames.

She learned to ride a little later than most kids, and the assumption she’s already totally confident is something I’ve felt from other bike shop employees (perhaps understandably, given the rabid cycling culture of the Front Range).

Mike’s Bikes East Denver made all of us feel welcome, despite our lack of experience, cycling jargon and, well, budget. We ended up buying a pair of new helmets, then returning for a tube next week when we needed it. I can’t help but want to go there next time I need anything cycling-related (and because it’s close to my Park Hill North home). Repairs, test rides, quickly answered questions, and free Tuesday tech clinics give me plenty of excuses to drop in. And the window shopping. Oh, the window shopping.

Despite its foot traffic, Mike’s Bikes East Denver still feels somewhat undiscovered, having changed over from Elevation Cycles in November 2022 after the latter sold its four Front Range locations to Mike’s (as of June, there’s now a fifth Mike’s in Boulder). And as for the dogs? They’re “an extremely integral part of the store,” according to manager Jack Lafleur, and they love the children who stop in. My kids and I would concur.

Mike’s Bikes East Denver, 821 Ash St., Denver. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays. Call 720-573-9988 or visit mikesbikes.com/pages/denver-east.

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Sevcik, along with her husband and two friends, purchased a 1,500-square-foot retail condo for $120,000 on the ground floor of the Circa West condominium building at the southwest corner of West Colfax Avenue and Vrain Street earlier this month.

Sevcik said the group stepped up to buy it after another deal, which would have seen the space become a laundromat that sells beer, fell through.

“To me, that was not necessarily going to change the trajectory of West Colfax … This play for us is as defensive as it is offensive,” Sevcik said.

The businesswoman and president of the West Colfax Business Improvement District runs three businesses across the street from the real estate she just bought. She wants to create a community-oriented space for creatives that is also a flexible event space.

One corner will serve as a dedicated photo and video studio, which can be rented by the hour. Adjacent to that will be an area for working and meetings. Sevick anticipates that it will draw a crowd of self-employed marketing and advertising professionals.

“[It’s] a community hub that centers around marketing, branding and PR, that has modular components that can offer small events,” Sevcik said.

Sevcik is teaming up with her husband, Tim Samp. The pair run Duality, a fitness studio across the street where “Orangetheory meets CorePower.” Next door is her cafe, Side Pony, serving up coffee and cocktails. And on the other side is Original Glam, a medical spa.

“All my businesses over there need a space to conduct their meetings … I’m at Side Pony talking about my staff that’s working behind the bar, and it’s not private and it’s loud,” she said.

Sevcik said they only need to make about $1,000 a month to cover the space’s expenses, so there’s less pressure to refine the plan before opening. Instead, she plans to “reverse engineer” the place a bit, letting her clients and customers use it and tell her what it needs. It’ll cost about $150,000 to build out the spot.

“This place doesn’t have to make a lot of money,” she said.

The other duo behind the buy are Chelsea and Juan Forero;, who run a local marketing company Forero Creatives. They plan to provide a wide range of services to companies and individuals looking to do advertising.

“Our little tagline that we have right now is ‘cultivating spaces for creatives,’” Chelsea said.

“It’s a place where businesses and people in this corridor can come and collectively work together and build whatever they’re building a little bit more.”

Circa West was developed by local firm Flywheel Capital out of a former assisted living facility called Golden Manor. An executive with Denver’s Bow River Capital signed the sale paperwork on behalf of the Flywheel-formed LLC. Flywheel and Bow River didn’t respond to requests for comment.

A pair of Flywheel development sites flanking the building landed in foreclosure last year after its Arizona-based lender initiated the proceedings. That process has yet to be resolved.

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The grocery chain’s last day at 5050 E. Arapahoe Road will be Aug. 16, according to a company spokeswoman, adding employees are being given the opportunity to transfer to other stores.

The move is a part of a larger plan by its Cincinnati-based parent company Kroger. Last month, the company said it would close 60 stores over the next 18 months.

There’s another King Soopers 1.25 miles north of the one that will close.

No other Colorado closures have been announced.

In Denver, a King Soopers is under construction at 4201 E. Arkansas Ave. It will replace the existing store at 825 S. Colorado Blvd.

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Coca-Cola said Tuesday it will add a cane-sugar version of its trademark cola to its U.S. lineup this fall, confirming a recent announcement by President Donald Trump.

Trump said in a social media post last week that Coca-Cola had agreed to use real cane sugar in its flagship product in the U.S., which has been sweetened with high fructose corn syrup since the 1980s. Coke didn’t immediately confirm the change, but promised new offerings soon.

On Tuesday, Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO James Quincey said Coke will expand its product range “to reflect consumer interest in differentiated experiences.”

“We appreciate the president’s enthusiasm for our Coca-Cola brand,” Quincey said in a conference call with investors Tuesday. “We are definitely looking to use the whole tool kit of available sweetening options.”

Quincey noted that Coke uses cane sugar in some other U.S. drinks, like its Simply brand lemonade and Honest Tea. Coke has also sold Mexican Coke, which is made with cane sugar, in the U.S. since 2005.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to innovate and see whether there’s an intersection of new ideas and where consumer preferences are evolving,” Quincey said. “It’s a good sign that the industry, including ourselves, are trying lots of different things.”

Rivals PepsiCo and Dr Pepper have been selling versions of their trademark colas sweetened with cane sugar in the U.S. since 2009.

Asked if Coke would also consider introducing a prebiotic version of its trademark cola — as PepsiCo did this week — Quincey said the company is currently selling a Coke with added fiber in Japan and is studying consumer response to it.

Quincey said consumer demand for its products improved in the second quarter in many markets, including China, Europe, Africa and North America.

“I would I would say overall that the global economy and the global consumer remains resilient,” Quincey said.

But early monsoons and conflict hurt demand in India, and Quincey said demand in Thailand and Indonesia was also weaker than expected. Quincey also said lower-income consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere have also pulled back on spending.

Global case volumes of Coca-Cola fell 1%. Juice, dairy and plant-based beverages fell 4%, Coke said. Sports drink case volumes were down 3%, as higher demand in North America was offset by declines in Latin America.

One bright spot was Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which saw case volumes grow 14%. Traditional Coca-Cola still far outsells the zero-sugar variety, but consumer demand for zero-sugar versions is growing much more quickly.

In North America, case volumes fell 1%, but that was an improvement from the first quarter, when they were down 3%.

Quincey said Hispanic sales in the U.S. returned to normal levels by the end of June. They had plummeted starting in February, when a social media video began circulating that claimed Coke was reporting its own workers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Quincey said the claim was false. The company has been trying to win back Hispanic consumers with targeted deals and ads touting the company’s local economic impact.

“It was still a headwind in the second quarter but the issue is now largely resolved,” Quincey said Tuesday.

Coca-Cola reported better-than-expected earnings in the second quarter as higher prices offset the weaker volumes. Coke said pricing rose 6% globally.

Revenue for the Atlanta company rose 1% to $12.5 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, quarterly revenue was $12.6 billion. That was in line with Wall Street’s forecast, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Net income jumped 58% to $3.8 billion. Coke’s adjusted net income was 87 cents, which was higher than the 83 cents Wall Street forecast.

Coke said it now expects full-year adjusted earnings to grow 8%. At the start of the year, Coke had expected earnings to grow 8% to 10%, but in April it lowered that range to 7% to 9%. Coke earned $2.88 per share in 2024.

Shares of Coca-Cola Co. were down 1% in early trading Tuesday.

In August, Neptune Mountaineering will launch “Second Send,” selling pre-owned mountaineering apparel, footwear, camping and skiing equipment. A gear buy-back program will start in mid-August with sellers paid in cash or store credit. That inventory will go on sale Labor Day weekend.

“We’re talking about it as a used gear ecosystem, because there is still so much life left in some of the high-quality goods that our industry puts out,” said store owner Maile Spung.

The store was founded in 1973 by Gary Neptune, a Boulder mountaineer with several major ascents to his credit, including Mount Everest. He sold the store when he retired in 2013, and there were two intervening owners before Spung took over in 2021. She also owns the Ute Mountaineer in Aspen, which, like Neptune, is a legacy store.

Neptune won’t be the only second-hand mountaineering shop in the metro area. Others include Feral mountain gear in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood and Wilderness Exchange near downtown in LoHi.

“There are a lot of economic factors that are at play, in that everything is getting more expensive in our consumers’ lives,” Spung said. “We really want to make sure we’re lowering the barrier to entry. We believe everyone should have access to the outdoors.”

Another factor at play is uncertainty over tariffs placed on gear manufactured overseas.

“Every couple of days we’re getting emails from our vendors about price increases,” Spung said. “Even with the uncertainty around the tariffs, the vendors are building in price increases to protect themselves. Unfortunately, that passes along to the consumer.”

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