The biggest building decision on Public Road this year involves a bookstore that has run out of room for its book clubs. In August, the Lafayette City Council had three proposals for the empty Chase Bank building at Public Road and Geneseo Street. It authorized city staff to negotiate a sale with The Read Queen Bookstore & Cafe, which has spent six years on North Harrison Avenue.
That vote matches most of what is happening downtown this fall. Several businesses that started small are moving into bigger, more permanent spaces. A food truck is now serving from a historic storefront. A bakery is planning a new building of its own. Here is where each one stands as of early October 2026, plus what's on the calendar in Old Town through mid-November.
The bank building and the bookstore that outgrew its porch
The Read Queen opened at 129 N. Harrison Ave. during the COVID pandemic. Co-owners Barbra Huntting and Deirdre Appelhans told the council the store had simply run out of space.
"This amazing community has supported us for six years, and we just keep growing and growing, and we've outgrown our space," Huntting said. "We try to hold these events, these gatherings, these book clubs and programming, but we just don't have the space for it right now."
The city owns the former bank at 200 N. Public Road. The building is nearly 9,000 square feet and was priced at $1.6 million. The city received three offers to buy it:
- The Read Queen Bookstore & Cafe, which proposed moving and expanding the bookstore.
- Grant Hopfenspirger, owner of Teocalli Cocina, who pitched a community restaurant and beer garden.
- The Arts Hub and Urban West Group, who proposed splitting the building into four separate uses.
The city didn't pick on its own. Each applicant recorded a short video on the Lafayette Listens site, and a survey open through early July collected about 1,800 responses. The Read Queen drew the most support. Lafayette Economic Development Director Brigid Keating said the proposal would reuse an existing building while helping a local business grow. "Small business support and retention is key," she told the council.
The deal is not done. The council voted in August to let staff start negotiating. If talks succeed, a purchase and sale agreement will come back to the council at a future meeting. Keating said she expects negotiations to succeed. The city's project page sets fall 2026 as the target for that agreement. As of early October, we could find no report of a signed agreement or a move date. Until then, The Read Queen is still on Harrison.
The location matters. The Lafayette Farmers Market runs on Public Road between Cleveland and Geneseo streets, so the bank building sits at one end of the market's blocks. A bookstore with event space would put community programming on the same intersection where the market draws Sunday crowds.
From food truck to a historic storefront
Bee's Thai Kitchen has made a smaller version of the same move. Bee Kisich grew up in Phayao, Thailand, where her mother sold a well-known green mango salad at the town market. After cooking at local Thai restaurants, Bee started Bee's Thai Kitchen as a food truck in 2021. The menu has included a Thai omelet, beef larb salad, crispy Thai bacon with fried rice, and her popular Bus Stop Chicken.
This summer, the Boulder Reporting Lab's Nibbles newsletter reported that the truck had found a home in a historic Lafayette storefront on Simpson Street, east of South Public Road. Inside are overhead fans, classic Thai art and wooden slab tables made by co-owner Kevin Kisich. Out back, the garden patio grows banana trees, kabocha squash, butterfly peas, cha-om, lemongrass, makrut lime, Thai basil, chilies and eggplants.
Nibbles described the storefront as "not quite a restaurant … yet." You can sit down and eat there, but the cooking still happens in the food truck because the building doesn't have a full commercial kitchen. If you knew Bee's from catching the truck around Boulder County, you can now count on finding it in one place, with shade and a garden.
A bakery building from the ground up
Daily Grains is taking the longest route. The artisan bread and baked-goods bakery plans to replace the existing building at 707 S. Public Road with a new one-story building that has a patio.
The owners have posted their progress publicly. On September 20, they wrote that they had submitted the building-permit application in July, gotten the city's first comments the week before, and were working through them. Their October 4 update says they are working with their general contractor to finalize the construction cost, and will then continue with permits and move toward construction. They haven't announced a construction start or opening date. For now, there's no fresh bread at 707 S. Public Road this fall.
Remi's opens next to the arts center
Remi's Cajun Creole Cafe is the one change in this guide that is fully open. It opened this summer at 211 N. Public Road, with 60 seats, Louisiana dishes, cocktails and live music, according to Axios Boulder's September 24 report.
It's a few doors from The Collective Community Arts Center at 201 N. Public Road, which is the starting point for several of the city's arts events this season. That makes it easy to pair dinner at Remi's with an exhibit or event at The Collective.
The bigger proposal outside Old Town
Not every proposal is this small. In May, BizWest reported on plans for The Range at Arapahoe Road and U.S. 287. The site map showed Target and Trader Joe's as possible tenants, with spaces of 128,000 and 12,500 square feet. Neither store is confirmed. At the time of that report, the site was in unincorporated Boulder County and the project was still in Lafayette's annexation review.
The proposed Target space alone would be roughly 14 times the size of the bank building the city is negotiating to sell. Downtown, the city's main building decision this year has centered on a single local bookstore.
On the Old Town calendar through mid-November
Several of the season's events take place at the same addresses covered above.
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon., Oct. 5, 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. | Art on the Street Walking Tour | Starts outside The Collective, 201 N. Public Road | Free, about 1.5 miles, led by Public Art Committee members |
| Fri., Oct. 9, 4:30–6:30 p.m. | 6x6 Fall Community Show reception | pARTiculars, 401 S. Public Road | Awards at 6 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 9, 6–9 p.m. | pARTiculars 2nd Fridays | pARTiculars Art Gallery, 401 S. Public Road, Unit 1 | Artist-owned cooperative of 25 local artists |
| Sundays through Oct. 25, 9 a.m.–1 p.m. | Lafayette Farmers Market | Public Road between Cleveland and Geneseo | Oct. 25 is the last market of the second season |
| Sat., Oct. 31, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. | 5th Annual Lafayette Fall Harvest Festival | 119 N. Harrison Ave. | Costumed dog parade, pumpkin patch, petting zoo |
| Through Sun., Nov. 8, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | Día de los Muertos Exhibit: Arcos y Portales | The Collective, 201 N. Public Road | City Arts and Cultural Resources exhibit |
| Fri., Nov. 13, 6–9 p.m. | pARTiculars 2nd Fridays | pARTiculars Art Gallery, 401 S. Public Road, Unit 1 | Monthly gallery night |
A few notes on the table:
The walking tour follows Public Road from Baseline to Emma. It stops at a selection of sculptures from the 2026 Art on the Street collection, plus a few other downtown sculptures and murals. Free parking is in the lot across the street from The Collective. Strollers are welcome, but the city asks that you leave dogs at home. Registration is through the city's activity registration page.
The Farmers Market is a producer-focused market for local growers and food makers. The 2026 season is its second. After October 25, it's done until next year.
The Fall Harvest Festival is a better pick for your dog than the walking tour. Organizer Kelly Miller's listing includes food, farms, arts and crafts, live music, adoptable puppies and a costumed dog parade that raises money for RezDawg rescue. Costumes are encouraged. It's on Harrison Avenue, the same street The Read Queen still calls home while the bank building negotiations continue.
If the Read Queen sale goes through, the building at Public Road and Geneseo will soon need new owners to look closely at its condition, its layout and the terms they are agreeing to. Those questions come up for homeowners too, whether you're adding on, moving up or selling a place you've outgrown. When you're ready to talk through what your next space should look like, Boulder Dream Collective is happy to help. Contact Us.
