Free Republic

DENVER — The Natural Grocers store in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood is set to close at the end of the month. Natural Grocers, headquartered in Lakewood, has 169 stores in 21 states. On Wednesday, the company announced that the Denver store located at 1433 Washington St. will close on Oct. 31. The company said operational challenges like retail theft and safety issues are impacting the store’s performance. “We have been actively working to address the theft and safety issues impacting our store at Colfax and Washington for some time. Despite our investment in security and loss prevention strategies over the...

Denver’s crime continues to rise in contrast to the statewide crime rate. The Common Sense Institute, a free-market think tank and policy analysis group, published a study on Denver crime ... The study tracks how Denver’s crime rates spiked over the pandemic and have continued to rise. It suggests that the Mile High’s problem is unique to Denver, rather than Denver being an example of a statewide crime problem, though it does not include a comparison of other cities’ crime rates. ... Denver’s average monthly rate of crimes per 1,000 people reached a high last year of 9.01 – a...