New Colorado City post office opens, promises unique experience
After more than 30 days, Colorado City residents can get their mail in town again. The new post office opened its doors in a limited role for the first time this morning.
Friday morning, long lines stretched out the door as people waited to grab their mail at the new post office. The new location is at 9048 South I-25 in Colorado City Colorado, less than a half-mile southeast of Exit 74.
But with the long wait, there has also been relief.
Since the old post office closed back in June, people in Colorado City have had to drive up to Pueblo Sunset Mail Station just to get their mail. In total, the round trip from Colorado City to Pueblo took an hour.
“This spot is convenient, I can actually drive here,” said Colorado City resident Debra Benner. “I have medical problems, and my sister would have to make the drive just so I could get my mail. I couldn’t make that trip.”
Day one was busy as lines stretched out of the door at the beginning of the day, but that came as no surprise.
“It’s been very busy, but we expected it to be busy,” said Traci Long, the owner of the post office building. “It is the first day of mail handouts where people aren’t having to drive twenty plus miles to get it.”
Traci Long will not only be running the postal services in Colorado City, she says inside the new post office will be a bakery as well. The bakery part of the business is called ‘Brunchies: Breakfast, Lunch, and Munchies’.
People will be able to step inside grab their mail, a muffin, even a cup of coffee.
“I expect people to come in and out,” said Long. “The post office works alongside our bakery plan because we expect to do mostly ready foods.”
The new bakery will also include a drive-thru, but a lot of construction work remains. Long expects everything on the bakery side to be operational in three months.
However, on the mail side of things, it isn’t expected to take as long. Long hopes to have PO Boxes as well as retail mail services like sending packages operational in 4 to 6 weeks. At that point, people will actually be allowed to enter the building instead of standing outside in a line.
Effective starting Friday, mail pickup will be available at the new location Monday thru Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., then on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.
