Novo Closes Highland Location, Opens New Outpost in Congress Park

In October, Novo Coffee partnered with the Block Distilling in RiNo on Vacancy, a daytime concept aimed at activating that space during hours when it would typically be closed.

Now, Novo is making more moves. After several months of delays, it debuted its new Congress Park coffee shop inside the former House of CoPa at 1200 Clayton Street on Saturday, February 8. The opening comes just one month after the company unexpectedly closed its Highland location after ten years in business because of a steep rise in rent.

Novo has been a Denver staple for over two decades and also has a roastery in RiNo plus shops in Cheeseman Park and downtown. It's also one of the many local staples with an outpost in DIA.

"We closed our Highland location at end of December, so the timing has been fairly fortunate," says director of operations Heather McCullough. "We have a spot to put all of those staff and found ways to keep [them] around for the in- between month. We're thankful we didn’t have to lose any [members of our team]."

Because the building in Congress Park was a coffee shop prior to Novo taking it over, much of the infrastructure was already there but it still took longer than the team expected to open due to delays from the holidays and availability of materials.

The company recently rebranded and took the opportunity to incorporate some of its new bright color palate into the 1,200-square-foot space. The paint, accentuated by natural light from two glass garage doors makes for a vibrant place to enjoy a pour over; a housemade chai; a latte made with rotating, single-origin espresso; or employee-concocted seasonal beverages.
The menu at all Novo locations are identical. "We like having consistency," says McCullough. While beer is available at the other two shops, it's not on the menu just yet at Congress Park, but the new location does keep the same hours as the other outposts. "We saw throughout pandemic everyone scale back their hours," says McCullough. "We didn’t quite go back to what they were but we found that, after scaling way back on hours in 2020, when we started adding them back, that the five o'clock hour is best for us."

Novo serves pastries from Rebel Bread at all locations plus breakfast burritos from Dis Burrito. It's considering adding lunch sandwiches and paninis from Spruce Confections in Congress Park, which would be a first for the company.

"They’ve been knocking at our doors," McCullough says of the neighbors in Congress Park who have been excited to once again have a coffee shop on the block.

On Sunday, February 16, Novo Congress Park will host its first event, Risk & Rules: A Coffee Cocktail Experience with Novo. It will feature three beverages created by Novo's wholesale manager, Natti Solowoniuk, in preparation for the upcoming U.S. Coffee in Good Spirits competition. Six ticket holders will sit at the judge’s table to experience the presentation up close, acting as stand-ins for official judges.

The event is free to attend and will include samples of the drinks plus small bites from Pit Fiend and raffles. All proceeds go to Prodigy Coffeehouse, our 2024 Best of Denver pick for Best Coffee Shop for Cause.

As for the Highland neighborhood, "We are hoping to reopen there at some point — not in that space, but we do love that neighborhood, have quite a good following up there, and I’ve lived up there for twenty-plus years, so we’re not giving up on northwest Denver for Novo at all," assures co-founder and president Jake Brodsky.

Novo Congress Park is located at 1200 Clayton Street and is open from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit novocoffee.com.