Neighbors Upset About Upcoming Loss of Local Chili’s

There are some sad closures on the horizon, including Pete’s University Park Cafe, which is set to serve its last meal on November 9, and brewery favorite Call to Arms, which will shutter next month. But another upcoming loss has stirred up a surprising reaction.

Over the weekend, a Nextdoor post from a resident of the Southmoor Park East neighborhood alerted the community that the Chili’s at 3625 South Monaco Street Parkway would be closing on November 12, and dozens of comments flowed in.

The news was confirmed by another neighbor, Virginia “Ginny” Bacon; she talked to the manager, who “was not very happy because the employee who leaked the information was not supposed to do that,” she says. But the information was already making the rounds on social media.

While chain restaurants often lack the emotional connection with diners that locally-owned spots elicit, this one has been a staple in the area since at least the late 1990s, and its upcoming closure is being mourned. Bacon has fond memories of that Chili’s. “I used to go to it with my parents and my twin brother. Then, before my mom died, she and I would go to it at least once a week. Now, my husband and I go to it at least once a month,” she recalls.

Plus, it’s one of the few sit-down restaurants remaining in the immediate area. “Everything around here is closing, and we do not want this Chili’s to close,” Bacon adds.

The nearby King Soopers-anchored shopping center was home to Italian and Mexican eatery Piccolo for fifty years before it shuttered in 2023; by December of that year, the space had reopened as Provolino, an Italian concept from first-time restaurateur Jeff Schwing. But that spot lasted less than a year; it closed in October 2024 and the space has been vacant ever since.

On the other side of East Hampden Avenue, at the Shoppes at Highpointe, several spaces are also vacant. As one reader wrote in an email to Westword, the area “has a high vacancy rate with Panera gone, Firehouse Subs gone/moved, Santiago’s moved, and Milk and Cake gone.” But a few restaurants are going strong, including a Torchy’s Tacos location and the nearby Bagel Deli, a neighborhood staple that was named the most iconic sandwich spot in the state in 2025.

The South Monaco Chili’s used to draw a lot of business from the neighboring Continental Theater, but Regal Cinemas closed in 2023 and is currently being torn down for a new development. “If they would just stay open once they get the theater torn down and the apartments built, they would have a ton of customers with the people who move into those apartments,” Bascon says of Chili’s.

She concludes with this plea: “Anyone who wants to, please call corporate and tell them not to close this Chili’s.”

But if it does ultimately close, at least there’s another Chili’s not far away, at 790 South Colorado Boulevard in Glendale.