Editing Columbia, Maryland (section)

=== Shopping ===
[[The Mall in Columbia]], located in Town Center, is a large regional shopping mall with three anchor [[department store]]s, a multiplex movie theater, and more than 200 stores and restaurants.

There are several other major competing shopping centers in [[East Columbia Business District, Columbia, Maryland|East Columbia]], including Dobbin Center strip mall opened in 1983, Snowden Square big box retail on the remainder of the GE industrial site, Columbia Crossing I and II big box retail started in 1997, and Gateway Overlook.<ref name="New City"/>{{rp|142}}

Columbia's nine "village centers" provide residents with nearby shopping as well, often including supermarkets, [[filling station]]s, [[liquor]] stores, [[dry cleaning|dry cleaners]], restaurants, and [[hair salon]]s. The village centers are laid out so that individual stores are not visible from the road, unlike traditional [[strip mall]]s. The arrangement is criticized because it makes it difficult for newcomers and non-residents to know what shopping is available; it is praised for eliminating much of the garishness of roadside America.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}

The village centers have evolved over time. Oakland Mills Village Center in [[Oakland Mills, Columbia, Maryland|Oakland Mills]] had a traditional layout—stores located off a central corridor—until its demolition in the late 1990s. The Rouse Company abandoned the village center concept in 2002, selling off the assets to [[Kimco Realty]] for $120 million.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2002/02/08/rouse-selling-columbia-centers/ |last=Vozzella |first=Laura |title=Rouse selling Columbia centers |work=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |date=February 8, 2002 |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 6, 2023 |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180534/https://www.baltimoresun.com/2002/02/08/rouse-selling-columbia-centers/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Kings Contrivance Village Center in [[Kings Contrivance, Columbia, Maryland|Kings Contrivance]] underwent major construction in 2007 and 2008 when a new supermarket was added to the center, but maintained the original character of stores around a central corridor and plaza. Owen Brown village center is now managed by GFS Realty, and the Long Reach Village center was declared blighted and purchased by Howard County for resale in 2014.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lavoie |first1=Luke |title=Columbia market study presents recommendations |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-village-study-final-0605-20140530-story.html |work=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |date=May 30, 2014 |access-date=January 10, 2015 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924003139/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-village-study-final-0605-20140530-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>