For nearly 14 years area runners have found good service, friendly faces and fair prices at the Colorado Running Company store in downtown Colorado Springs.

But it's time to change the game plan, said Colorado Running Company owner Jeff Tarbert. The specialty running store, fondly known as "CRC" to the locals, will move to University Village Colorado, the busy shopping center at 4880 North Nevada Ave., as early as May, 2014.

"This looks good for us," he said. "It's a great location, a new center of town and we're very excited about it."

Tarbert and CRC's management staff will tour the property, which is currently under construction, on Friday.

The new store will include 3,000 square feet of retail space, about three times that of the current location. Plans call for the breakfast restaurant Over Easy, which also has a downtown store, to open a second location next to the new Colorado Running Company.

Increased customer traffic in the area and the activity and growth at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs are two reasons for the relocation.

"The development that the university is doing across the street is important to us," Tarbert said. "The High Altitude Park and their Wounded Warriors program, plus the arts center and all the student housing ... it makes sense for us to be there."

The new store will also have excellent access to the Santa Fe Trail, as well as the Pulpit Rock trail system.

Tarbert and store manager John O'Neil opened CRC at 833 N. Tejon in 2000. He said the location has served CRC well, but Colorado College owns the building and a clause in the lease prevents the company from making long-range plans.

"It's been a great 14 years and Colorado College has been a great landlord," Tarbert said. "But it's probably time to kick the corners out and move on."

There are four specialty running stores in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Running Company has two of them, with a second location on N. Union. The Boulder Running Company opened in 2000 on Austin Bluffs Parkway, and the Runners Roost, by far the oldest of the three, opened in 1977 in downtown Colorado Springs.

Tarbert said CRC may expand again, possibly with a store on the city's south side.

"Down the road we want to be close to Fort Carson," he said. "We have a huge military following. And being a veteran myself, I really want to support the military. So we know we have to be focused on that portion of our cutomer base better in the future."