Must be like the Clif Bloks that I eat when I’m hiking. And what moron goes looking for this kind of thing out in a town they’re not familiar with? They’re WAY cheaper on Amazon and most sporting goods stores don’t even carry them, I wouldn’t expect a town of 2000 people to have an REI. Seems like you’d hit a grocery store and get some trail mix with M&Ms or granola bars. That part of the story sounds made up to me. If you leave your Clif Bloks sitting on your dresser, they might as well be on the moon. Just assume you’re not getting any on this trip. You have a 99.9% chance of being right.
Around here they have a good selection of Cliff Bars at Walmart and Costco.
Gatorade makes energy chews and they're available at most Safeway grocery stores, I think.
The Clif Bloks are very good, but I haven't seen them outside of REI.
Seems like every Target carries Clif Bloks, and almost always, they’re the cheapest. And my tiny little neighborhood market also carries Clif Bloks - Clif is really good at getting people to carry their products.
Honestly though, I’d probably look more for Red Vines, a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and some tin foil if I left my nutrition behind on race day. (Target also carries KT tape and quite a selection of running gear, shockingly enough.)