Denver woos big-name brands, including Virgin Hotels

High-profile companies with stakes in cities such as Los Angeles, Miami and New York are making moves to Denver.

Why it matters: Globally recognized brands see Colorado's young and wealthy population, strong tourism draw and rapid development as indicators of a lucrative market.

Driving the news: Four prominent businesses recently announced plans to set up shop in the Centennial State.

• British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Hotels brand selected Denver for its 10th property, with plans to open in 2025 as part of a 41-acre, mixed-use development.
• Museum of Illusions, the largest chain of private museums worldwide, is coming to the 16th Street Mall in early 2023 as part of a nationwide expansion.
• BrewDog, a Scotland-based brewery with roughly 150 locations globally, is opening its first U.S. franchise in Denver.
• Blue in Green — a Japanese denim brand with a single location in New York City, which GQ listed in its "Top 100 Clothing Stores in the World" — is opening in RiNo.

What they're saying: "RiNo feels a lot like a New York neighborhood," Blue in Green co-owner Geoffrey Chorbajian told BusinessDen. "There's graffiti and art everywhere, breweries … and a lot of things in that area that speak to who we are."

• "Denver is definitely an up-and-coming city that we've been eager to enter into … it's a great gateway into the Rockies so we see it as a very promising market," Nikolai Ursin, corporate director of marketing at Virgin Hotels, told the Denver Business Journal.

The other side: Several parts of Denver — including its downtown corridor, where several of these companies are moving — have yet to rebound since the start of the pandemic.

• Whether the arrivals of big-name brands revitalizes the area remains to be seen.