Well, I don't know for sure when Rainbow Grocery opened for business to the public, but I was there in Denver during the summer of 74 and left for good to go to Amherst. I know I bagged raisins in the basement. And that was the Colfax and York location.

I do recall that they had just rented it or purchased and it was being renovated. My guess was that it was serving the premie community as a coop at the time.

For those who don't know about 1560 Race St. this was the Divine Residence for a time. And Bob Mishler and a lot of the other big players lived there. 1560 was held in great esteem and was also feared because of the edicts that were issued there.

Babs Johnson has some info on Denver history here at http://www.ex-premie.org/pages/journs/babs.htm

Also, of note is that 1560 Race St. was designed by architect William A. Lang (1846-1897). Here is an interesting PDF about him that ends with:

Lang designed most of his buildings in the early 1890s and was severely impacted by the Panic of 1893. It effectively ended his career as an architect and sent him in a downward spiral from which he would never recover. He sold his opulent townhouse in 1895 and all of his possessions before being admitted to St. Luke’s Hospital in 1896. Lang was diagnosed with dementia in March 1897 and discharged to his brother’s care in Illinois. He disappeared from his brother’s house on August 7th and was killed instantly when hit by a train on August 21st, 1897. While Lang had a brief but productive career in Denver, he left a legacy in his eclectic buildings that reveal the prosperity of Denver’s early years.

See - http://www.coloradohistory-oahp.org/guides/architects/lang.pdf

Lang probably designed a number of buildings that housed premies is my guess. See the PDF and check out the list of addresses. A number of his designs are on the National Register.

Lang also designed the Molly Brown House (on the National Register). For those who don't remember Molly Brown, just think about the Debbie Reynolds' movie, 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown' and think Titanic.

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058708/plotsummary)

http://mollybrown.org/

Picture below is the Molly Brown house before she and her husband, played by Harve Presnell in the movie, renovated it and made it all deluxe.