Another closure, another blow to local retail legacy in downtown Aspen. Amen Wardy, at 625 E. Main St., must close by August. There is an immediate sale of up to 50% off numerous items in.
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People walk by the now officially closed Tatanka on restaurant row in downtown Aspen on Friday, April 30, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
It appears that the effects of the pandemic have only made Aspen’s commercial real estate scene even more desirable than it has been in recent years.
Downtown Aspen has one retail space available for summer occupancy, according to Angi Wang, a broker at Setterfield & Bright.
She and fellow broker Karen Setterfield said they haven’t seen this kind of demand ever.
“It’s stronger than it’s ever been, and I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Setterfield said. “Everyone wants Aspen. … We are out of spaces, and we have unlimited demand for retail spaces.”
Amen Wardy
Amen Wardy, whose career in fashion and décor started in 1957 in west Texas and captured Beverly Hills before he settled into Aspen for nearly 30 years, died last week in his sleep at his Carbondale home, his family announced Monday. He was 81.
Wardy started in women’s fashion at a store his grandmother ran in El Paso, Texas, where he was born, and became well-known in the 1970s and ’80s for his southern California boutiques that drew celebrity A-list clientele. Many of those customers followed him when he launched a home décor store on Aspen’s Cooper Avenue in 1992 with his longtime spouse, Bob Hightower.