Premium Birmingham Outdoors Store to Open in Tuscaloosa, Replacing Downtown Pub

A high-quality, Birmingham-based sporting goods store will soon open a new location in Tuscaloosa, filling a space downtown that has stood vacant since a locally popular bar closed in 2020.

For decades, Subs n' You and the Downtown Pub shared a large building on the corner of University and Lurleen B. Wallace Boulevards, but the sandwich shop closed in 2019 and the Downtown Pub followed suit in May 2020, an early COVID-19 casualty after 27 years in business.

Their former home has been unoccupied since, but extensive renovations have been recently underway to change the 5,800-square-foot building into something new - a third location for Birmingham's Tom Beckbe premium outdoors store.

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Founded in 2016 by Radcliff and Mary Menge, the retailer's mission statement is "to enrich your experience outside" with jackets, vests, shirts and pants, hats, bags, leather goods and more, including many designs featuring their signature waxed cotton.

Their flagship store is on Canterbury Road in Mountain Brook and they also have a second location in Oxford, Mississippi.

The Tuscaloosa store is part of an expansion that will also see Tom Beckbe open its first location in Virginia. Both new retails are expected to open next month.

"Tom Beckbe’s second Alabama location will open in September 2024 in Tuscaloosa," store staff said on social media. "Located at the corner of University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa’s bustling downtown, the newest Tom Beckbe store is conveniently located to the University of Alabama, great hotels, and Tuscaloosa’s best restaurants. Just a couple of blocks from the Black Warrior River, this new Tom Beckbe store will cater to students, alumni, and sportsmen enjoying the vast ecosystem stretching along Alabama’s western border to the Gulf of Mexico."

The Tuscaloosa store is expected to open next month at 2427 University Boulevard.

For more exclusive updates about restaurant and retail development across West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.