Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Dehydrated Food (And More) Coming to Columbia

REI will open a new store this fall to sell dehydrated camping food in Columbia, reports Columbia Talk.

Apparently the store will offer REI's full line of outdoor equipment, bike repairs, and even equipment rentals at the Columbia Crossing center near Rte 175 and Dobbin.  But let's concentrate on the food.  This should be the best place in Howard County to buy dehydrated strawberries, which still have the magic of "space food" from the first time that I ate them.

Check out Columbia Talk for all the REI details.  I can't figure out exactly where the REI will be.  Is this the former Expo Design / golf store behind the Target?  (Update: In a comment below, Jess guesses that it is the old CompUSA.)

(Update II: Sarah points out below that REI also sells cherry-flavored energy goo.  Also food!  We could almost view this as an ethnic grocery.)

17 comments:

EastCoastMatt said...

Interesting. For a while, the rumor was they would be coming in next to costco where whole foods is coming in. Now they're coming in a different spot.... wonder what made them do it now....

kam said...

I thought the Whole Foods in Gateway Overlook news was an April Fool's joke from the blog. Did it actually turn out to be true?

~kam

Anonymous said...

The old Expo space is becoming a big Babies R Us and Toys R Us. Can't find the link, but I know it was in the paper recently.

Jess said...

Could it be where the CompUSA used to be?

Paul! said...

Odd. Rumor had it that the store that never opened in Gateway Overlook was supposed to be a REI, but they backed out last minute due likely to the economy.

They're now subdividing the never-opened store, so it won't go there.

The former Expo center I always thought was a horrible location for any store. It's just too out of sight, even for Columbia. But then of course, the REI store in College Park looks like they moved into a space previously occupied by a neighborhood grocery store.

Anonymous said...

Found the link about the Babies/Toys R Us coming into the Expo space: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/consuminginterests/blog/2010/05/toys_r_us_and_babies_r_us_movi.html

Sarah said...

I wonder, though, if it's such a bad location-- REI is generally a destination, not so much a "oh, hey, there's an REI, let's go!" Then again, having a store located well, you could capture both crowds.

Don't forget the cherry flavored energy goo you can buy! That's food... too...

Jen said...

I wish the old Expo space would become a Harris Teeter.

Do we really need a mega-babies r us?

Love that REI is coming to town.

Anonymous said...

REI will share the Expro center with the new Toys R US

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know what the old Tweeter is being turned into on Dobbin Rd? And IMO we DO need a Babies R Us here. It's hard to believe the nearest one is way up in Baltimore County on Rt 40.

Sarah said...

What does Babies R U sell that Target and Walmart and Toys R Us doesn't sell? Just curious.

Anonymous said...

i believe part of the twitter space in dobbin center is becoming a performance bicycle.

Anonymous said...

Looking for freeze dried strawberries? I always order from
http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/freezedriedstrawberriescan.aspx?gclid=CJ30k4L7uaICFR8bswodRRtR5g

Check it out, always great and my kids love them!

P90 Noir said...

We certainly need a Babies R Us! Would have been better four years ago when I was going twice a week... Babies R Us has a much wider selection than Target. And if Tweeter is really becoming a Performance Bike the combo of it and REI is going to kill the Race Pace at Snowden and Oakland Mills...

Now if only we could get a Guitar Center. And now to end my 100% food unrelated post. Oh wait, Babies R Us carries baby food!

Anonymous said...

4 sparse aisles of baby stuff in two brands w/very limited selection versus a few thousand square feet of baby stuff w/real options, including furniture, is a huge diffrence. Try going to Target w/someone's baby registry list to find that 90% of it is only available online. I'm another one of the many that can't wait for that store to open here!

Anonymous said...

The space that used to be the Expo Center is being turned into a full sized Babies R Us and Toys R Us. They will open Oct. 16th according to the store manager at the Toys R Us across the street. I have also confirmed this with my friend who works for Toys R Us as an executive in NY.

Anonymous said...

@Paul: The store that never opened in Gateway Overlook (next to Costco) was supposed to be a Hudson Trail Outfitters..they didn't have the money and bailed on that site. It was never intended to be a REI store.

Sorry, not food related.