Too few parking spaces, lengthy queues for open spots, cramped designs that can’t handle crowds — Denver-area drivers brace themselves for headaches when they try to navigate the most stress-inducing parking lots in the city and beyond.
The Denver Post went searching for the worst parking lots in metro Denver, with help from more than 100 people who weighed in with their opinions in an informal survey on social media platforms X and Facebook. Within Denver’s city limits, older central neighborhoods like Capitol Hill — where space is at a premium — host parking lots that received an onslaught of criticism.
But that doesn’t mean suburban communities are immune to precarious parking set-ups.
Poor parking lot experiences can affect drivers’ loyalty to a business, one expert says. Consumers are constantly forming judgments about brands, so “parking is one of the critical elements for brands to get right,” said Brent Coker, a marketing lecturer at the University of Melbourne.
“Everything that happens to a consumer informs their attitude, which defines their future behavior,” including purchase decisions made minutes later, the Australian said. “If the carpark sucks, then yeah — that’s gonna give someone a negative attitude.”
Here are the parking lots that stand out the most in Denver:
1. Trader Joe’s urban locations
Grocery store chain Trader Joe’s has two Denver locations in older neighborhoods, with small lots that challenge drivers in Capitol Hill on Logan Street and in Hale on Colorado Boulevard.
“It’s no secret that Trader Joe’s parking lots are a nightmare,” said customer Rob Toftness, 42. “You add in their tight quarters with drivers’ inability to behave like adults, and you have a difficult recipe.”
On a rainy Monday afternoon, shoppers weren’t deterred from completing their errands at the Capitol Hill store. They stepped in front of cars waiting for openings in the lot. Drivers tried to squeeze into narrow spots, parking haphazardly before darting into the store themselves.
Four cars were queued in the left lane on Logan Street, turn signals blinking as they waited to enter.
However, for cyclists and pedestrians, the store is a breeze to navigate. Toftness, a Five Points resident, opts to ride his bike along the 7th Avenue bikeway, then locks it at the bike rack while he shops.
In an episode of the company’s podcast, Inside Trader Joe’s, co-host Matt Sloan said, “We don’t open stores with the world’s most ridiculous parking lot on purpose.” The size of a Trader Joe’s lot is based on the store’s square footage, with the chain’s locations often smaller than the average grocery store, especially when they’re squeezed into older neighborhoods.
“Stores of a more recent vintage — more recently open stores — have larger parking lots when we can get them,” Sloan added.
Trader Joe’s spokesperson Nakia Rohde declined to respond further.
A shopper exits a King Soopers grocery store on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, in Capitol Hill in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
2. King Soopers in Capitol Hill
The King Soopers grocery store on East Ninth Avenue leaves local customers lamenting the amount of time it can take to secure a parking spot in the main lot.
Those who choose to park in the overflow lot are also inconvenienced, as the anti-theft wheel locks on shopping carts engage at the edges of the main lot, forcing patrons to carry their groceries across a busy street. Nine cars idled in the parking lot on a Monday afternoon, as drivers tried to park or back out of spots.
Kara King, 33, said she’s never secured a parking spot on her first go-round.
“You constantly have to circle the lot, waiting for one to open up,” the Speer neighborhood resident said. “Otherwise, your option is to park on the street and haul your groceries to your car.”
King Soopers spokesperson Jessica Trowbridge didn’t respond to requests for comment.
3. Whole Foods Market in Cherry Creek
At the Whole Foods Market on East First Avenue in Cherry Creek, customers’ criticisms are largely directed at its lot design.
“Whole Foods in Cherry Creek is awful,” said customer Krista Chism, 48. “All the spaces are designed for compact cars.”
She called the lanes “too narrow,” which heightens the risk of hitting another vehicle parked behind her car while reversing. When she visits, “I seriously weigh the cost of paying to park against the possible cost of someone hitting my car,” the Park Hill resident said.
This Whole Foods location has long been notorious, with Westword referring to it in 2011 as “singularly the worst parking lot in the city.”
The Whole Foods media team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
4. Denver Botanic Gardens
Visiting the Denver Botanic Gardens often comes with parking difficulties on busy weekends, despite a dedicated parking garage. The gardens are most heavily trafficked by guests during events, including Blossoms of Light, Glow at the Gardens, the Spring Plant Sale and the Summer Concert Series, said Erin Bird, associate director of communications. Popular times for visitors also include warm, sunny weekends and Scientific and Cultural Facilities District free days.
Bird said representatives understood visitors’ parking frustrations and urged guests to take extra time to secure parking in either the garage or the surrounding neighborhood.
“The Gardens’ multi-level parking structure was designed to maximize the limited space we have due to our location that borders city parks in an established residential neighborhood,” she said. “Timed entry has eased some of the parking strain.”
Denver’s flagship REI store on the South Platte River, pictured on Sept. 11, 2012, has a front surface lot (shown), an underground garage and auxiliary lots. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post)
5. REI Co-op’s flagship store
The REI Co-Op Denver flagship store on Platte Street near downtown is the source of consistent parking gripes, including tight spaces, incidents of bike theft and the price to pay to park for lengthy shopping trips (after a 90-minute grace period).
Patrons say the outdoor co-op attracts the most crowds during the weekend, but that doesn’t mean its ground-level parking areas don’t fill up at times during the week, too. On a recent Wednesday evening, the metered street parking was also mostly occupied as a few customers dashed across the busy street to the former Denver Tramway Powerhouse building that now houses the retail chain.
The REI store earns 4.5 out of 5 stars on Google reviews, but at least 20 one-star reviews mention parking troubles. The designs of one surface parking lot and the underground garage are noted as cramped. One reviewer wrote: “The store itself really is great. But PLEASE fix the parking.”
The REI media team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
What about the suburbs?
Outside of Denver, plenty of parking lots throughout the metro area give shoppers and visitors grief, too. Here are some notable ones:
Costco: The warehouse club chain’s locations in Lone Tree, on Park Meadows Center Drive, and in Arvada, on Wadsworth Boulevard, draw particular complaints about parking lots that rattle the nerves. Costco stores face guff elsewhere, too: On Reddit, a thread asking the question “What’s your Costco’s parking lot situation?” has garnered hundreds of responses. Objections include waiting for spots during busy shopping hours and aggression in parking lots, such as honking, cursing and even car accidents. The Costco media team didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Construction workers pour concrete in the upper parking lot at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre on Feb. 6, 2024, in Morrison. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
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Red Rocks Amphitheatre: The Denver-owned venue is considered the pride and joy of the local music scene — but its parking, not so much. After a packed concert, drivers can look forward to sitting in their vehicles for long periods as they inch toward the venue’s exits. And they can’t turn to public transportation either — although that could change if a proposal for public shuttles to and from a nearby light rail stop in Golden gains traction.
This year’s Red Rocks season kicked off in April, but the venue used the offseason to pave some lots, increase roadside parking, and install new sidewalks and lighting to the south lots, Denver Arts & Venues spokesperson Brian Kitts said. The city also plans to add bathroom facilities and some covered spaces for patrons.
“Being in a city park, especially one with property in National Historic Landmark status, means that what Red Rocks can do with parking is fairly limited,” Kitts said. “New lots, new entrances and new roads through the foothills aren’t feasible, so visitors will continue to rely on the patience and kindness of fellow concert goers for ingress and egress.”
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