Business & Tech

Laurel Health Foods Heads To Main Street

'Leaner, meaner' store to focus more on specialty items.

It’s moving time for the Laurel Health Foods Inc, which this week closed its doors along Bowie Road to set up shop on Main Street.

The new, downsized location will be leaner and meaner, said owner Curtis Price. The store is now at 350 Main Street with 800 square feet compared to the old store’s 2,000 square feet. The Main Street location will focus more on

“It’s a lot more cozy and pleasant over here,” said Price, who owns the store along with his mother, Monica Price, and brother, Philip Price.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

The store, which opened Monday, moved after 20-years along Bowie Road. Curtis Price said the store needed a better location. The old store sat between in a shopping center that housed an Office Depot and a Hispanic Grocery store. Price said the move allows the store to shine a bit more along the mom-and-pop feel of Main Street.

“We needed a better location,” he said. “It’s a lot more scenic [on Main Street]. We used to look out and stare at two big parking lots” at the old location.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Price said the store has been feeling competition from larger chains selling organic and specialty items for the last 15 years. But he feels that the move to Main Street could give the store an edge as its smaller size gives it a more community boutique feel, he said.

“This kind of store coming to Main Street is the new change that Main Street is undergoing,” he said.

The store opened in 1971 and has moved six times to difference location in Laurel.

Officials in the City of Laurel have t. Funding includes grants to help stores likes Laurel Health Foods fill vacancies along the street and to improve store frontage and interior. Price said he is in the process of applying for grants but wanted to move the store first.

“I think people are still figuring out our new location,” he said.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here