This story is a guest article from writer Allie Blum.
Berlinda Olivas, the owner of Baker Market, has spent most of her life—over 60 years—in the Baker neighborhood. She grew up one-and-a-half blocks southeast of the market that she now owns, frequenting the store that formerly occupied the space Baker Market now calls home, never dreaming of one day becoming a business owner of the very same location.
Olivas purchased 713 W. Fourth Avenue in an estate sale in the early 2000s. The first business she opened there was La Tiendita y La Lavandería, the little store and the laundromat.
“When I first opened, there were other bodegas in the neighborhood, on Second and Galapago, Third and Elati. We all knew each other and looked out for each other, and now I’m the only one left,” she said.
First constructed in the late 1800s, she takes great pride in the building’s history. “I often think to myself, ‘If these walls could talk…,’” so much so that she hand-painted the phrase above one of the market’s refrigerators. But running a small business has had its challenges and setbacks. La Tiendita y La Lavandería closed in 2015 when Olivas remodeled the building. After remodeling, Olivas leased the building to Baker Java and Scoops in 2019, which closed after just one year in business. She began to worry about how she would be able to keep the building.
“I don’t care if I sell a candy bar a day,” she said. “I have to open a store.”
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Baker was already changing—no longer filled with corner stores like the neighborhood of Olivas’ youth and early adulthood—and the onset of the pandemic accelerated the pace of gentrification. She worked with Mi Casa Resource Center, the same organization which helped her obtain her GED decades earlier, to open Baker Market in 2022. In the ensuing years, Olivas has steadily grown the business, with improvements like adding Chef Ramone to her staff in 2023 and, most recently, opening a newly renovated, dog-friendly back patio.
Baker Market and Deli, with its unassuming gray brick facade sandwiched between a community garden and a single-family home, is a cross-section of Denver. A gaggle of students saunters in during their free period with their skateboards and backpacks, postal workers pick up a bite to eat along their route, and a cluster of parents feed their young children. Though these scenes are rather mundane, there’s electricity in the small space packed with people sharing smiles as they sink their teeth into carefully crafted carne asada tacos and veggie burritos.
Before the midday rush, Baker resident Alex happens upon the market for the first time. Like many Baker Market customers, he first encountered the deli and grocer on a stroll around the neighborhood. While the market has an Instagram and Facebook presence, most patrons live or work in Baker and find the market by happenstance or learn of it by word of mouth.
“I grew up in San Diego and spent a lot of time south of the border in Tijuana going to markets like these. [Baker Market] is in the neighborhood, for the neighborhood,” Alex said.
This sentiment expresses his immediate impressions of the eatery, filled with cozy corner booth tables and exposed brick walls, serving up house-made tacos, burritos and sandwiches; coffee from beloved fellow Baker business Queen City Collective Coffee; locally made and thoughtfully sourced baked goods, produce, snacks, and a non-exhaustive list of groceries. Alex said he would re-patronize the market, even before ensuring that the taste of the burrito is worth the trip back.
Twin brothers Robert and Nolbert spend their lunch break together, a ritual they observe three to four times per week. They’re enjoying a meal, showcasing the vast array of products purveyed by the market: house-made sandwiches, a bag of Doritos, and individually sized chantilly cakes.
Robert, a dentist at nearby Denver Health, learned about the establishment from a patient. He brought along Nolbert, an administrator at CU Denver, and the market has since earned a spot in their lineup of local luncheonettes.
Places such as Baker Market are no longer ubiquitous in an ever changing city like Denver and neighborhood like Baker but they fill a gap in the community. Today, Olivas says that her mission is to serve her community with good food at a good price; to be welcoming, diverse, and inclusive; to make pockets of seating so friends can have lunch together or make a new friend; to have a place that offers a good atmosphere. Walking through the patio space, Olivas points to a blank wall and says she wants her mission statement painted there.
“Whatever I did, I didn’t want to be another 7-Eleven,” Olivas stated.
For as long as Baker Market’s doors are open, Olivas will continue to expand and evolve her business to serve her community. Still, even for a new customer like Alex, the market’s mission appears to already be realized.
