Not knowing what "Marin" you were looking at makes it difficult to assess what the Townie is being compared to. I'm going to assume you saw them both at a bike shop so they would have been professionally assembled That said the Townie is a nice bike. They are comfortable, well built and easy to ride and if the only thing you could find not to like was the color that's a plus. Like you said bikes are hard to come by so it can be a crapshoot trying to find one.
I've been a Electra owner for 10 plus years and have had 3 different bikes, while I havent owned a Townie, I haven't heard many, if any complaints about them.