Denver’s Country Club neighborhood has snagged a big catch.
Littleton fly fishing shop Anglers All is moving into the retail space at 1303 E. 6th Ave., formerly home to Trouts Fly Fishing.
Anglers All owner Chris Keeley, a Platt Park resident, said he wanted to expand to Denver for years but hadn’t found the right spot until now.
“We’re one of, if not the oldest continuous fly shop in the state of Colorado,” Keeley said. “We’re proud of it. Something that goes along with that is we’re slow to expand. We have looked at Denver a number of times over the years.”
He said he hopes to open the 1,400-square-foot store early next year.
Keeley bought the 69-year-old fly fishing shop in 2009, leaving the commercial banking industry behind for outdoor adventure. He said Anglers All has operated in Littleton at 5211 S. Santa Fe Drive for decades. That location will remain open.
“We’ve been in the same location since 1969 and have generations of customers. Fathers, sons, grandfathers, granddaughters — they’ve been coming here long since before I was the owner,” Keeley said.
Compared to the Littleton location, which has 12,500 square feet of retail and warehouse space and a recently added “boathouse” for still-water anglers, the Country Club spot will be a “boutique fly shop” with traditional gear, Keeley said.
He declined to disclose revenue figures but said, like most fly fishing shops, the pandemic boosted business. Generally, he said, Anglers All is an “institution” that has held a steady line since he acquired it.
“It’s a people business,” he said. “We take care of people and make them feel welcome and they keep coming back. It’s a pretty tight knit community.”
The 6th Avenue property is owned by Denver-based The Robert L. Naiman Co. Leasing Director Nikki Naiman said the space was most recently home to a yoga studio. It was Trouts before that.
“Over the past two years many people have noted they wish the space was still operating as a fishing shop,” Naiman said.
Trouts operated in the space for 20 years before moving to Lincoln Park in 2020. BusinessDen broke the news last week that the state seized Trouts’ new property over unpaid taxes.
Keeley said when the Country Club space became available this summer he was initially interested because of how successful Trouts was in that space.
“It’s really a positive aim for us,” Keeley said. “We thought they (Trouts) ran such a good business out of that location and in the middle of a great neighborhood.”
This story was reported by our partner BusinessDen.
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