Columbia Whole Foods - A RoundUp With Recommendations From Mrs. HowChow

The Whole Foods in Columbia looks a like a reality -- although one that we won't see until 2014.

The supermarket will go across from the Columbia Mall at 10275 Little Patuxent Parkway.   It's the low-slung office building along the lake -- midway or so between Copeland's restaurant and the main Howard County library.

For the official word, check out stories from Andrew Metcalf in the Columbia Patch and Luke Lavoie in Explore Howard.  For other thoughts, check out posts on HoCo Rising and Tales of Two Cities.  More than anything, this is a real estate event -- a store that offers food, but frankly makes an entire neighborhood more exciting to people who want to live near one.

Amusingly, the store already had a Twitter account where someone at Whole Foods is writing about Columbia.

There will be lots to write about Whole Foods -- when it will open, what it will offer, how it will affect others.  For now, I'll defer to Mrs. HowChow, who was a Whole Foods regular when she lived in Los Angeles.  She was bummed when the Howard Hughes folks said their negotiations had stalled.  She was so excited when I emailed her last week that she worried that I might be joking:

I'm super exited.  To me, Whole Foods' prepared foods section is the best.  In LA, I would buy one serving and often split it into two meals.  Lasagna, different pastas.  I'd get fish like prepared salmon. 

When I go to Whole Foods now, I often get the bean and cheese burritos to bring for lunch.  I get cornichons, olives, crackers and cheeses.  I'm almost an antipasta eater.  I love the fruits as well.  The fresh orange juice is the best.  On special occasions, I get fresh squeezed tangerine or blood orange juice.

It is hard to put my finger on it, but I feel like this is complimentary.  It is a different niche than Wegmans or any other local places.  Oh, and I forgot -- Mr. HowChow laughs a lot because I bring home a lot of the baked goods and candies.  I especially like the candy fruit slices that I got at Silver Spring and the pies that they have in Baltimore.  I have served the vegan pies to unknowing guests when Whole Foods was out of the regular pies, and they're actually quite good.  (Shhhhhh.)  

Mrs. HowChow plans a countdown clock once we get a little closer -- or know a more-accurate time for opening.