Best Grocery Store in Colorado Named: See Who Was Snubbed

We’ve all got our go-to grocery store that seems to give us everything we need. Whether it’s right next to your house or you have to go out of your way to get there, our favorite grocery stores can be like a second home to us.

Recently, the Daily Meal compiled a list of each state’s favorite grocery store. They tended to skew more towards local branches to make sure that each state’s favorites were accurately represented. In the process, they picked a certified Colorado favorite as the state’s favorite grocery store.

Natural Grocers’ Picked as the Favorite Grocery Store of Coloradans

According to the Daily Meal, Natural Grocers is the best grocery store in Colorado. They cite their wide selection of organic produce, along with pasture-based dairy, free-range eggs, and humanely raised meats, as a huge factor in the ranking.

For Natural Grocers, all of these elements are a part of their formula that was created when the first opened all the back in 1955.

Following a health scare, Margaret and Philip Isely opened the first Natural Grocers to make living a healthy and active lifestyle easier and more affordable for Coloradans. The Isely family has since opened 166 stores in 21 different states.

Two Popular Colorado Grocery Stores Were Left Off the List

While Natural Grocers is rightfully iconic in its own right, there are two popular Colorado grocery stores that were left off the list.

King Soopers Not Named on Daily Meal's List

For one, King Soopers has been a go-to grocery store for Coloradans for nearly nine decades. Opening its first location in Arvada in 1947, King Soopers has been quite possibly the staple grocery store for Colorado ever since.

However, ever since it was acquired by Kroger, its stores have become very similar to its parent company’s brand. Of course, the Daily Meal was looking for unique and local grocery store chains, so King Sooper’s exclusion makes sense.

Lucky's Market Not Named on Daily Meal's List

On the other hand, Lucky’s Market is another Colorado staple that has a similar goal to Natural Grocers. Serving up mostly organic goods, Lucky’s has ingratiated itself amongst Coloradans since opening in Boulder in 2003.

However, they also were bought by Kroger in 2016, with their partnership leading to Lucky’s bankruptcy in 2020. While still a great store, it would seem Lucky’s does not have the staying power to be ranked as Colorado’s favorite.

With all this being said, do you think Natural Grocers is Colorado’s signature grocery store? For many, it serves both as a great store along with feeding into the state’s lore.