West 32nd Avenue Heads Into December With Fewer Meals and a New Dessert Counter

Sunday, October 25, was a full day on West 32nd Avenue. In the morning, the Highlands Farmers Market held its last Sunday of the season at 32nd and Lowell. That afternoon, the Harvest Festival & Trick or Treat Street filled 32nd from Julian to Newton with a pumpkin patch, local music, a beer garden and kids moving from shop to shop for candy. Highland Square's next big date is Saturday, December 5.

The block between those two dates has changed since last fall. In 2026, the 32nd Avenue corridor lost three places where you could stop in for a regular meal. The one food business that opened in their place was designed around dessert after dinner. As the holidays start on this stretch, you'll find fewer standing tables, one very specific new pastry case, and a single Saturday doing most of the seasonal work.

Three kitchens closed between May and September

In order:

1. Little India Highlands, 3496 W. 32nd Ave. BusinessDen reported in late March that the restaurant planned to close its West Highland location at the corner of 32nd and Lowell. Westword reported that the owners set final service for May 31, ending a five-year run on the corner.
2. Park Burger, 2643 W. 32nd Ave. This one sits east of Federal toward Potter Highlands, outside Highland Square itself, but it's on the same avenue. The Denver Post reported that Gastamo Group set the location to close July 28 when its lease ended, after more than 15 years at that address. The Platt Park and Hilltop locations stay open.
3. Natuur, 3712 W. 32nd Ave. The smoothie, bowl and toast shop closed its Highland location on Sunday, September 28, according to Westword. Its Sloan's Lake location had closed two days earlier, on Friday, September 26. That means both of the chain's Denver shops near this part of town closed in the same week.

All three served everyday meals: a curry dinner, a burger and a shake, a smoothie bowl after a run around Sloan's Lake. These are places you go on a weeknight without planning ahead.

The one opening is built for after dinner

The new food business on the block is Hearth Patisserie, which opened August 27 at 3621 W. 32nd Ave. It sits next to Hearth Bakery in the space the Denver Post calls the former Happy Cakes space. BusinessDen covered the same bakery under the name Happy Bakeshop and reported that it closed earlier in May after a change in ownership.

Hearth was clear about what the new room is for. In a statement the Denver Post published, the company said the shop

"is built around afternoon and evening desserts: something to enjoy after dinner, something to bring home, something for a special occasion."

The same statement says the menu changes with the seasons and leans refined, with entremets, tarts and choux, plus a tea-focused drink program. The pastry chef is Kevin McCormick, previously culinary director at Union Station, who brings 20 years of pastry experience. The opening case included raspberry and tropical chouquettes, a Paris-Brest with hazelnut praline, a strawberry tart with almond and mascarpone cream, a raspberry pistachio gâteau, a Parisian flan with vanilla bean custard, and tiramisu. Hearth was founded in 2022 and now has four Denver locations.

Hearth Patisserie serves what comes after a meal, or what you carry to someone else's table. Through November and December, that makes Hearth Patisserie the one 32nd Avenue address built for holiday hosting duty: the seasonal tart or the box of choux you bring to a dinner.

A barbershop, and three storefronts with no successor announced

The other new arrival in Highland Square isn't food. The Rosemont Barbers, whose shops are in RiNo and Five Points, announced in June that it was opening a second location "in the heart of the Highlands." Its Highlands page lists the shop at 3390 W. 32nd Ave. and names West Highland and Berkeley among the areas it serves.

A barbershop draws a regular, recurring visit. For a corridor that just lost three casual kitchens, that kind of steady foot traffic still counts.

As of late October, nobody has publicly announced who is moving into 3496, 3712 or 2643 W. 32nd Ave. Until that changes, the dining gap stays a gap, and neighborhood-scale decisions about the corridor will keep coming through the civic calendar covered below.

December 5 carries two markets

With fewer everyday stops on the avenue, the year's biggest Highland Square event matters more. Holiday in the Highlands returns Saturday, December 5. The district site, visitdenverhighlands.com, lists an annual holiday market with local artisans and makers, food and drinks, and kids' activities. Santa visits and horse-drawn wagon rides through Historic Highlands run from noon to 3 p.m., hosted at 3737 W. 32nd Ave. Free professional photos with Santa are offered for kids, families and dogs.

The same Saturday, Denver BAZAAR runs a free outdoor Sloan's Lake Holiday BAZAAR at 1611 N. Raleigh St. When its schedule page was last checked in late October, it listed 61 makers confirmed for that date.

The hours overlap for five hours, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Holiday in the Highlands opens an hour earlier and the BAZAAR stays open an hour later. That leaves room for a morning on 32nd, with the Santa line once it opens at noon, then an afternoon at the Raleigh Street market, or the same day in the other order. The noon-to-3 Santa and wagon window is the one fixed point in the day, so families with kids may want to plan around it.

If you're a maker hoping to sell on 32nd that day, Holiday in the Highlands takes vendor applications through the Highlands Farmers Market's site.

Where the corridor gets talked about this season

The open storefronts, traffic on 32nd and anything proposed for the area all come up at a short list of public meetings, two of them before the markets and one just after:

• Wednesday, November 11, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Sloan's Lake Citizens' Group general meeting, in the first-floor community room at Del Norte VA Apartments, 2635 Federal Blvd. The group is the Registered Neighborhood Organization for Sloan's Lake, and all community members are welcome.
• Tuesday, November 17, 6:30 to 8 p.m. The West Highland Neighborhood Association's monthly Land Use & Planning meeting, held the third Tuesday of each month. The calendar lists this date as a tentative hold, so confirm it before you go.
• Wednesday, December 9, 7 to 8:30 p.m. The next Sloan's Lake Citizens' Group general meeting, at the same location, four days after the markets.

WHNA's November 4 meeting at The Garage near 32nd and Osceola was set to discuss a traffic-calming survey answered by about 300 West Highland neighbors. The WHNA calendar points anyone who missed it to the association's site for the survey and updates.

Between now and December 5, the 32nd Avenue calendar comes down to a seasonal tart at 3621, a haircut at 3390, two neighborhood meetings in November and one Saturday with two markets.

If you want to talk about what this year's changes on 32nd mean for your own block, or just compare notes on what might fill those three storefronts, Colin & Company follows Highland Square closely and is always glad to talk. Let's Connect.