Old Colorado City Shops: A West Side Local’s Walk (Not Downtown)
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I live on the west side, right up against the mountains, and Old Colorado City is where I go for the shops when I want a couple of quiet hours on foot. Little storefronts, arts and crafts, a chocolate shop, good food mixed in. It is not a mall and it is not downtown. It is a few brick blocks on West Colorado Avenue, and that is exactly why the shopping works.
People hunting the shop strip usually want two things: what kind of stores are actually there, and where to park without circling. Park right behind the shops — there is a lot back there, paid but reasonable — or grab a street meter. Either way you are a short walk from the doors.
I do not keep a ranked directory of every storefront, and I will not invent one. The move is the walk. You window-shop, you go in when something looks like you, and you keep moving.
OCC is one stop on a longer trip. Pair it with the rest of the city in my Colorado Springs things to do guide.
What you actually find on the shop walk
On a typical west-side stroll I see arts and crafts shops, gift and boutique storefronts, a chocolate shop, and enough places to eat that you can turn it into a morning. There is a bike shop I use when something needs a repair or I want an e-bike rental for the day — handy if you are already on the west side.
My favorite stop on the stretch is still La Baguette at 2417 W Colorado — quiet, quaint, never a huge line, and a good excuse to make a morning of the shops. On weekends there is often a farmers market right across the street at Bancroft Park (official 2026 run: Saturdays June 6 through October 17, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.). I hit the market first, then finish at La Baguette.
If you want a beer after the shops, Cerberus Brewing sits nearby on Colorado Avenue at 7th, between downtown and the historic shop stretch.
How I would spend a couple of hours
Park behind the shops. Walk West Colorado Avenue. Go into the places that pull you in. Eat when you are hungry. Leave before it turns into a checklist.
Old Colorado City is a historic west-side district. History Colorado lists the Old Colorado City Historic Commercial District along Colorado Avenue from about 24th Street. I am not writing a history lecture. I am writing how shopping here works if you live here.
What this is not
This is a shopping walk for the Old Colorado City strip. It is not a ranked restaurant dump, and it is not a claim that I have toured every gallery on the block.
If you want a fuller day after the shops, Manitou is a short hop west. The Penny Arcade is the thing I actually do out there a couple of times a year.
If you want to make it an overnight
Most people do Old Colorado City as a few hours and then drive home. If you’d rather stay close, hit the shops again the next morning, or fold in the rest of the west side, here’s where I’d look.
The west side, around Garden of the Gods, is the closest base if you want to walk into these same shops more than once without a long drive back.
Book a stay near Old Colorado City
Manitou Springs is the other option, a few minutes further, with its own walkable downtown and closer to the Penny Arcade if you’re making a full day of it.
Book a stay in Manitou Springs