Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Twenty-one pinball machines. That is what you notice first when you walk into Stumpy's. Not the pizza, not the bar, the machines. Lined up and lit up in a no-frills room off Wilcox Street, quarters clinking, kids losing their minds over a burger and a game while their parents grab a beer and a slice of actual thin-crust New York pizza in the middle of Douglas County.
That room is on the clock now.
Stumpy's New York Style Pizza, at 138 South Wilcox Street in downtown Castle Rock, is closing. A longtime manager pegs it at 26 years in town and 16 at the Wilcox spot, which makes this one of those places that has quietly been part of the furniture of downtown for longer than most of the newer arrivals have been alive. And here is the thing. The final days are running out right now.
Rivers Church went under contract to buy the strip-mall section at 136, 138 and 140 South Wilcox Street. That is the chunk of the block that holds Stumpy's, and the church wants it for a permanent downtown home.
Rivers is not some out-of-town operation, either. They launched in Castle Rock back in September 2024, they currently meet over at Castle Rock Middle School, and they already have offices right there at 140 South Wilcox. So this is a congregation that has been circling this exact block for a while.
Lead pastor Drew Land says his congregation of nearly 200 people needs a permanent home. Per the reporting, the purchase came in around $4.5 million, with roughly 70% of that already fundraised. CBS Colorado first reported the church's plan to buy the section back in early March 2026.
To their credit, Rivers extended Stumpy's lease through the end of August 2026. So the pizzeria is not getting kicked to the curb overnight. But an extension is still a countdown. Open through the final days of the month, then done on Wilcox.
This part is worth your attention, because it is not the story most people assume.
The building owner is not selling to cash out and disappear. He says he is selling to fund an affordable housing development over in the Vail Valley, and he is looking for additional investors to make that happen. So the money flowing out of downtown Castle Rock is, at least on paper, headed toward housing on the other side of the mountains. Whether you love that or hate it, it is not the usual flip-it-and-forget-it move.
He also said he offered to help Stumpy's find another location. Which sounds nice. And this is where the human stakes kick in.
A longtime Stumpy's manager said the business simply cannot afford to move. Moving a full-service restaurant, a full bar, and 21 pinball and arcade machines is not the same as relocating a coffee cart. If the deal closes, the manager said, they would have to close for good.
Stumpy's is not going quietly, though. The pizzeria says it is hunting for a new location and will announce an address if it finds one. The phone is (303) 814-1800. If you have a line on affordable commercial space in Castle Rock, that is a call worth making.
CrossFit Loop, the gym also in the block, is on the way out too. The building owner said that one is a little different. CrossFit Loop chose not to renew its lease. So the whole stretch of 136 to 140 is basically turning over at once.
Think about where this block actually sits. It is right next to the Philip S. Miller Library in downtown Castle Rock. Prime, walkable, central. The kind of spot where a growing church of 200 people can plant a permanent flag and be part of daily life downtown for decades. I get the appeal completely.
But it is also the kind of spot where a scrappy pizza-and-pinball joint built 26 years of regulars. Both things can be true. That is what makes this one sting.
Most people do not realize how much of downtown Castle Rock's character lives in exactly these older strip sections. The rents in the shiny new mixed-use buildings going up around downtown are a different universe from what a place like Stumpy's has been paying on a 16-year run at the same address. That gap is the whole ballgame. When a longtime tenant loses their building, the math on relocating almost never works, because the new spaces are priced for national chains and fresh concepts, not a room full of pinball machines.
So when the manager says they cannot afford to move, that is not an exaggeration. That is just downtown Castle Rock in 2026.
Look, I am not going to tell you how to feel about a church buying a building for its congregation. That is a real need and they went about it the honest way, extending the lease instead of forcing a quick exit.
But if Stumpy's has fed you a slice, or your kid has ever gone quarter-deep into that arcade lineup, this is your window. The room off Wilcox is open through the final days of the month, and then it is gone unless a new address materializes.
Get the thin crust. Get the wings. Play the machines while you can. And if you know a landlord with a spot that pencils out, dial (303) 814-1800.