Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Whole Foods Will Open A Columbia Store In 2014

Whole Foods announced this afternoon that they have signed a lease in Columbia, Maryland.

They'll go into the former Rouse Company headquarters near the mall.  That's the low building on Lake Kittamaqundi between the central library and the restaurant area with Clyde's, Red Pearl and Sushi Sono.

More details to come. 

(Update: Think 2014 for your Whole Foods shopping, according to a company press release.  Check out that release on Explore Howard or the Columbia Patch.  And keep an eye on the Tales of Two Cities blog for updates by Wordbones.  He has been in front of this story from the start.)

(Update 2: The store is set for 45,000 square feet.  For comparison, old press releases say the new Rockville Whole Foods is 51,000 square feet.  The new Columbia Wegmans is 145,000 square feet.)

(Update 3: Wordbones has renderings of the soon-to-be Whole Foods.  He also has news that Clyde's has renewed its lease in Columbia.  He says they'll be remodeling.)

14 comments:

Southern Skies Coffee Roasters said...

Waiting for the countdown timer to appear...

Anonymous said...

Yay! And today is not April 1st.

HowChow said...

Yes. Definitely not a joke. I checked twice for fear that it was a lease in Columbia, Missouri. But it's Columbia, MD.

Susan said...

Dreams are coming true!

Unknown said...

So happy but so afraid to get excited until I see it in writing for myself...

Junior Barnes said...

From their 3rd quarter earnings statement at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/whole-foods-market-reports-third-quarter-results-2012-07-25

The Company recently signed 12 new leases averaging 37,700 square feet in size in Palm Desert, CA; Pompano Beach, FL; Park Ridge, IL; Wichita, KS; Boston, MA; Columbia, MD; Kansas City, MO; Lincoln, NE; Parsippany, NJ; Wynnewood, PA; Dallas, TX; and Houston, TX.A These stores currently are scheduled to open in fiscal year 2014 and beyond.

So it looks like it will be a while.

Lisa said...

Whole Food's burgers and pizza are an order of magnitude better than Wegmans.

Anonymous said...

Booyeah!!! Can't wait until 2014.

Jen said...

Another article on the location and approximate opening.

http://columbia.patch.com/articles/whole-foods-reports-signing-lease-in-columbia

RHfoodie said...

I'm thrilled that I won't have to travel to go to Whole Foods soon (2014 seems a long time from now).

Sounds like it will large enough to have variety but not so large that you won't be able to get in/out quickly.

Can't happen fast enough for me!

victoria@thesoffritto said...

This is great news. I'm a TJ's gal but do love some of the Whole Foods products. Having lots of competition will keep all of these grocers on their game.

Sofia said...

I am ecstatic about this news!! I always said Columbia would be perfect if it had a Whole Foods. We are some of the luckiest people... Wegmans, Trader Joes, MOMs, David's, Roots, and now Whole Foods.

Anonymous said...

Nine chain grocery stores within five miles of my house: three Giants and one each of Harris Teeter, Safeway, Food Lion, Trader Joe's, Wegmans, and in another year or so Whole Foods. Add David's, MOM's, and Roots to the mix. Other choices include Costco's, BJ's, Target, and Wal-Mart plus various international and ethnic food stores and farmers' markets. Pondering what this means for Howard County . . .

Anonymous said...

The real question for me is what this means for the lakefront as a whole. Can this be used to kickstart the area and maybe encourage more businesses and unique restaurants to open up shop?