In the space of two weeks this fall, two businesses opened their first Colorado locations within a short drive of each other in Aurora. 85°C Bakery Cafe opened September 18 next door to H Mart. TESO Life opened October 2 in a building that used to be an Ace Hardware. A third business, Tí Cafe, has signed on for a former 7-Eleven on South Havana Street and hasn't opened yet. None of the three built anything new. All three moved into existing retail spaces on a corridor that has spent years becoming the metro's best-known stretch for international food. That choice says more about where Aurora's food and shopping scene is heading than any single grand opening.
A Taiwanese bakery chain's 100th U.S. store, next to the H Mart lot
85°C Bakery Cafe opened its first Colorado location on Friday, September 18, 2026, at Parker Commons, 2767 S. Parker Rd. The Aurora store is also the chain's 100th location in the U.S. The company was founded in Taiwan in 2003 and opened its first U.S. store in Irvine, California, in 2008. Today it runs more than 1,000 locations worldwide. Each store has its own in-house bakery that turns out more than 50 kinds of pastries, baked fresh every hour, alongside cakes and made-to-order coffee, tea and boba drinks. The name comes from 85 degrees Celsius, which the brand considers the ideal temperature for brewing espresso.
The address matters. H Mart sits at 2751 S. Parker Rd., just a few numbers down from 85°C, so a weekly grocery run now has a bakery stop built in. The opening-weekend giveaways ran September 18 through 20 and are over. According to the Aurora Pulse newsletter, regular hours are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. That makes it one of the few spots in this cluster you can count on before work.
The Denver Post's coverage called it "a huge cafe chain from Taiwan" and confirmed the store is the brand's first in Colorado. A chain picking its 100th U.S. location usually goes where the shoppers already are. Here, that meant the parking lot of the country's best-known Korean grocery chain.
TESO Life moved into a former Ace Hardware
The second opening is easier to miss if you only know the building by its old name. TESO Life opened on Friday, October 2, 2026, at 1150 S. Ironton St. in Aurora. Its hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Sunday. On Havana Street lists the store as part of The Gardens on Havana, and the space is the former Ace Hardware.
TESO calls itself an Asian department store. Its shelves carry J-beauty and K-beauty products, modern home goods, lifestyle accessories, trending snacks and rare collectibles. So a storefront that once sold paint and garden hoses now sells skincare and hard-to-find snacks. The building and the parking lot are the same as before.
The three-day grand opening ran October 2 through 4, with gift tiers based on how much shoppers spent. Mile High on the Cheap reported that opening-weekend visitors should arrive early or expect a line just to get inside. No source gave a wait time, and the giveaways ended Sunday. Whether the crowds last past the first weekend is something the next few Saturdays will show.
Timing also played a part. On Havana Street's September 12 roundup still listed TESO as coming soon and under construction. Three weeks later it was open.
Tí Cafe has a lease on a former 7-Eleven and no firm opening date
The third business follows the same pattern but is still on the way. Tí Cafe, a Vietnamese coffee shop founded by three sisters on Denver's Broadway, plans a second location at 1910 S. Havana St. That's the former 7-Eleven space in Birchtree Shopping Center. Its original shop is at 30 N. Broadway in Denver.
According to WhatNow's September 26 report, the shop brews Vietnamese espresso the traditional phin way. Its menu includes cà phê sữa, egg coffee and a flan-topped iced coffee. Matcha and hojicha drinks, milk teas and a signature "Kem Series" of cream-topped drinks round it out. Baked goods include bánh pate chaud, mooncakes, sesame balls and barbecue pork buns.
The opening date has already slipped once. In a July profile, On Havana Street said the café expected to open "this summer." By September, both On Havana Street and WhatNow listed it as coming soon, with a fall 2026 target. As of October 5, no published source gives a specific day. The café's own website doesn't list an Aurora address yet. Anyone hoping for phin coffee on South Havana should check the café's channels before making the drive.
Where things stand this week
| Business | Address | Former use | Status as of Oct. 5, 2026 | Daily hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85°C Bakery Cafe | 2767 S. Parker Rd., Parker Commons | Not reported | Open since Sept. 18 | 8 a.m.–9 p.m. |
| TESO Life | 1150 S. Ironton St., The Gardens on Havana | Ace Hardware | Open since Oct. 2 | 11 a.m.–9 p.m. |
| Tí Cafe | 1910 S. Havana St., Birchtree Shopping Center | 7-Eleven | Coming soon, fall 2026, no set day | Not yet posted |
Why first locations keep landing here
Brands opening in Colorado for the first time can go anywhere in the metro. These two picked a corridor that already has a track record. In a January 20, 2026 piece, Westword described Havana Street as a four-mile stretch with 47 restaurants representing 14 cultures. In its Best of Denver 2026 issue, the paper named South Havana Street and Yale Avenue the Best International Food Intersection:
"Park once and see the whole world before getting back in your car."
Westword counted more than a dozen restaurants at that corner, covering at least seven cuisines: Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Mexican, Indian and Thai. H Mart and a mix of specialty shops are part of the same cluster.
The long-running anchors are still open. Seoul Korean BBQ & Hot Pot, at 2080 S. Havana St., is listed on On Havana Street, and its profile mentions a 2011 Westword award for Best Korean Restaurant. Chef Liu's, at 2222 S. Havana St., Unit A2, came back after its earlier restaurant closed in 2014. It reopened at the Havana site on Saturday, September 20, 2025. Tí Cafe's planned shop at 1910 S. Havana sits a couple of blocks north of Seoul BBQ by street number. A bakery stop at 85°C now sits next to H Mart.
The growth is happening inside existing buildings. Each newcomer took a storefront that was already there and set up next to businesses that have been drawing crowds for years. For people who live nearby, that means the familiar trip gets longer and more interesting without any new traffic patterns. The same Parker Road and Havana lots now lead to more stops.
Update one old name in your maps
One correction is worth making while you're adjusting your routine. Visit Aurora's market directory still lists Pacific Ocean Marketplace at 12303 E. Mississippi Ave. Great Wall's store directory now shows that address as GW Supermarket of Aurora. Denverite reported the sale of Pacific Ocean Marketplace's three stores to Great Wall back in 2022. If you're searching for the old name, look for GW Supermarket on the sign.
The same move, one exit north at Stanley
The small-footprint pattern shows up elsewhere in Aurora too. Chase Devitt and Charles Troup, who own Boychik, are opening Sorella at Stanley Marketplace, 2501 Dallas St., in November. Rather than a new sit-down space, Sorella will run out of a 400-square-foot stall. The menu is sandwiches, charcuterie and take-and-bake pastas, including a chicken parmesan sandwich and a heat-at-home spaghetti and meatballs. Troup told BusinessDen that every individual meal will cost under $20. Boychik already runs one of its three locations at Stanley, so the new concept is going into a building where its owners already operate. Like the Havana Street openings, it relies on an audience that already shows up.
For this month, the practical plan is simple. The bakery next to H Mart opens at 8 a.m. daily, and TESO opens its doors at 11 a.m. If you hear Tí Cafe has opened, check On Havana Street or the café's own channels first, since the date has moved before.
If your weekend errands already run through Parker Road and Havana, you know the area well, and part of what makes a location desirable is what opens nearby. Johnny Lee tracks those changes across Aurora alongside the sales data. If you're curious how your home's value compares now that the corridor keeps adding stops, get your instant home valuation and we'll go over the numbers with you.
