Bougiest Denver King Soopers? Local Reddit Does Not Hold Back

In March, four metro Denver grocery stores were named among the worst in the country — but none of them were King Soopers locations.

The Kroger grocery chain operates 118 locations in the state, but not all offer the same shopping experience. When I lived in south Denver, I'd often drive farther to visit the Belleview Square location because it was better organized and better stocked than the one on East Hampden Avenue and South Monaco Parkway.

When the East Hampden and South University Boulevard location opened over a decade ago, it quickly earned a nickname among my friends: MILF Soopers. Attractive clientele or not, I was never a fan of its smaller footprint.

Now that I'm closer to downtown, I jaunt over to the store on Krameria Street to avoid the parking lot madness at the Cap Hill location off East Ninth Avenue.

But what is the most bougie King Soopers around? That question was posed to the r/Denver subreddit on December 15. It quickly racked up hundreds of comments replying to the original post, which reads, "Ok, the difference between the Soopers on Mississippi and Havana and the Soopers on Yosemite and Belleview are worlds apart... Mississippi and Havana being the red-headed stepchild of the King Soopers empire. In your opinion which Soopers location is the most boujie?"
The top comment touts the bougieness of the so-called-by-some MILF Soopers, though there are plenty of up-votes for the top response to that: the location at Orchard and Holly, which has a nickname of its own, according to u/jeanielanewith who writes, "Bling Soopers, as opposed to Ghetto Soops nearby on Arapahoe Road."

Farther north, u/slammed_stem1 notes that "80th and Wads is niiiiiiiice," while u/1whoknu says, "The one off Indiana on Candelas Parkway is nicer."
On the flip side, there is also a lively discussion of which Soopers is the worst. "Scary Soopers at 13th and Speer is the dodgiest," writes u/bediger4000, with another commenter offering it the nickname Cave Soopers.

But it has some competition. "Obviously you haven't been to 6th and Peoria," counters u/cooperj456. Another commenter, u/dueljester, doubles down on that claim, explaining that "Twice I've seen them call ambulances because of people passing out from smoking up in the aisles/bathroom. Also, once someone ran from Buy Back Games when it was in the shopping plaza and [was] hiding in the store."

A hot take comes from u/MajesticMountains, who writes, "There needs to be more competition for grocery stores out here. Most of the grocery stores look like run-down dollar stores and the food is garbage." (u/MM should be happy that the King Soopers/Albertsons merger is off, at least; that would have removed some competition.)

"I would do unforgivable things for a Publix," replies u/gophergun, referring to the Southern grocery chain.

That's an idea I wholeheartedly second: Publix is the only thing I miss from my years living in Florida. This year, I even went on a mission to re-create its fan-favorite chicken tender sub using ingredients you can find in Denver and was pretty pleased with the results.

One key ingredient: Boar's Head Kosher Dill pickle chips, which I finally found — at the Capitol Hill King Soopers.