On Friday morning, grocery giant Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) announced it had acquired a “significant” stake in Lucky’s Market, a local natural food retailer with locations in Boulder and Longmont.

By Friday evening, Lucky’s Liquor at 700 Ken Pratt Blvd. closed for good.

The reason was a Colorado law stipulating that retail chains — such as Kroger, Costco, Whole Foods and Walmart — are limited to one full-service liquor license for the entire state.

According to the Department of Revenue, Kroger’s one license is for a King Soopers wine and spirits store in Glendale. Kroger is the parent company of King Soopers and City Market, found throughout Colorado.

Department of Revenue spokesperson Lynn Granger said that even if Kroger owned “0.1 percent” of Lucky’s, the one retail license rule still applies.

Ben Friedland, Lucky’s vice president of marketing, confirmed that the liquor store on Ken Pratt was closed “due to current Colorado liquor laws and the structure of (the) partnership” with Kroger.

Lucky’s plans to use the cash from the deal to accelerate nationwide expansion. Currently, there are 17 markets in 13 states.

With its first affiliation with an independent natural foods grocery chain, Kroger is hoping to increase its share of the fast-growing natural foods sector that has increasingly been eating away at market share of traditional grocers.

The now empty liquor store space at Lucky’s on Ken Pratt will eventually be transformed into a cafe, food seating area or something similar.

“We’ll be reaching out to the community to have them help us decide what is the best way to use that space,” Friedland said.

No liquor store employees lost their jobs, he added, instead moving over to positions within Lucky’s grocery operations.

Shay Castle: 303-473-1626, castles@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/shayshinecastle