Inside the old Shotgun Willie's strip club in Glendale, Colo. — which will soon be replaced with a marijuana shop. (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post)

Former Denver strip club space gets a new lease on life as a marijuana shop

In November 2013, Colorado strip club Shotgun Willie’s closed its doors at 490 S. Colorado Blvd. forever — and immediately reopened some brand new doors right across the parking lot.

The new Shotgun Willie’s is bigger, brighter and better — and the old building will soon be demolished so that construction can start for the site’s new tenants: A marijuana shop.

“I think it’s going to happen,” said Glendale’s deputy city manager Chuck Line about the pot shop that will be the city’s fifth marijuana outlet once it finishes its applications and construction.

The name of the new shop might tickle longtime Coloradans: The Smoking Gun, a play off the space’s former tenant Shotgun Willie’s.


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“You’ve gotta love it,” said Line. “Only in Glendale.”

The Smoking Gun hasn’t finished everything it needs to be a sure-thing, but Line feels good about the owners and said they’ll be a good fit with Glendale’s other cannabis businesses.

“All of these marijuana owners, in Glendale at least, are good business people,” said Line. “They look before they leap.”