A toast to Colfax: family-owned Argonaut is latest 'Main Street' zoning gem.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: FAMILY-OWNED COMPANIES - Statistical table - Company rankings

THE 15-FOOT CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE trucked in from Las Vegas is an immediate attention-getter, a landmark for the new Argonaut Wine & Liquor store on East Colfax Avenue and Clarkson Street.

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But to anyone connected with the third-generation Denver store's history, the giant bottle hovering over Argonaut's northwest corner is not as meaningful as the inscription "Robinson Building 2008" that adorns the side of the new 40,000-square foot store along Colfax.

"We've been on that street so long," said Scott Robinson, principal with his brother Jeff of Hampton Partners Holdings LLC, which oversaw the project. "We just kind of felt like we wanted to create a building that looked permanent, but then add that (Robinson inscription), just because we are so much a part of that community, that neighborhood."

Their late father, Jack, uncle Hank and grandfather Lazer Robinson launched the family liquor-store business in 1965 when they bought the original Argonaut Liquors on the same block of East Colfax. (Actually Lazer and Hank bought the business and brought Jack in as a partner two years later). In 1974, that small store was replaced by a new, 20,000-square-foot Argonaut across the alley, which seemed like a behemoth in its day but which they also came to outgrow.

Which brings us to Dec. 3 last year and Argonaut's grand re-opening. Mayor John Hickenlooper, whose familiarity with Argonaut goes back to his days as a craft brewer, was on hand for the new store's unveiling. So was Peter Park, Denver's manager of community planning and development. The new Argonaut, with its handsome brick exterior and green emphasis that includes solar power and recycled construction materials, is the latest result of the city's Main Street zoning plan, an effort to revitalize and make major streets like Colfax more pedestrian friendly.

Main Street zoning requires new buildings to be positioned up to the sidewalk with no surface parking lots in front. That might limit the options for the Argonaut owners as they decide what to do with the previous Argonaut store, which was built in 1974 on the corner of Colfax and Washington Street and had parking out front.

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