City: Boulder, CO

Category: Shopping

Description: Louisville’s quaint and sleepy downtown has been eclipsed of late by the bright lights of the retail strip along McCaslin Boulevard. New big-box retail outlets, fast-food eateries, chain restaurants, a 12-plex theater, and hotels are being joined by clusters of smaller shops. On the west side of McCaslin you’ll find Home Depot and Lowe’s Hardware competing across the street from each other, and chain restaurants that include Spice China, Chili’s, and Outback Steak House. The Village Safeway Shopping Center is at South Boulder Road and Centennial; Albertson’s grocery is on West Cherry Street. Louisville Plaza, at South Boulder Road off of Highway 42, has King Soopers and a Blockbuster Video. The Centennial Center, at McCaslin Boulevard and Cherry Street, is near the movie complex and the hotels. In historic downtown, along Main Street, you’ll find Wildwood Music and several casual, families-welcome eating places, including The Huckleberry, The Blue Parrot restaurant, and Tulien’s Vietnamese Restaurant. Thunderbird Barbers, complete with an American flag outside, offers a glimpse of Main Street past, as does the ad for 5-cent Coca-Cola painted on the small brick home of the Louisville Historical Society. Close by, the Old Louisville Inn, at 740 Front Street, features an antique bar and lots of character.