REI to relocate Redmond store back to Bellevue in fall 2016
REI will be relocating its Redmond Town Center store back to Bellevue in the fall of 2016, the speciality outdoor retailer announced today on its website.
The Seattle-based company and consumer cooperative is moving its Redmond location "to better inspire, educate and outfit over 126,000 active REI members in the Bellevue area," according to the press release.
REI Bellevue will occupy the second level of the Bellevue Central Shopping Center at the northeast corner of 116th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 4th Street and will feature more than 40,000 square feet of space, including bike and snow shops.
“The new store in Bellevue will be better equipped to serve co-op members and customers for their outdoor adventures,” said Doug Schmidt, REI divisional vice president of retail. “The larger space will allow us to offer a broader selection of products and programs, and the location will provide more convenient access for outdoor lovers on the Eastside to explore the parks and forests throughout the region.”
Founded in Seattle in 1938, REI originally opened a store in Bellevue in 1984 and moved it to Redmond in 1998.
Opinion: Oh no. Another big loss to Redmond. Hopefully not another long vacancy like RTC is experiencing with Borders when it closed. What do you think?
Sad News.
ReplyDeleteI guess no more shopping at REI...
RTC Now need to step up their game and get another big retailer in or it will close completely. :(
Another slap in the face to Redmond, that's for sure. Whose fault is this?
ReplyDeleteIs it the city government? One Redmond?
Greedy commercial property owners wanting too much rent?
Endless downtown construction (around the still-not-funded new park that nobody is asking for) with its resultant disruption to traffic (that will continue for how many years to come)?
Tech immigrants that now live here in increasing numbers who don't shop at REI?
Unwillingness of people in neighboring Bellevue to drive all the way to downtown Redmond to shop?
All of the above?
The eastern end of Redmond Town Center does seem to be a business dead zone, for whatever reason. How many businesses in that area have closed or moved since the mall opened . . . a major bookstore, Ruby Tuesday's Diner, an upscale grocery store (and whomever was in that space before, another grocery IIRC), and some others that I never frequented.
From my occasional attendance at city council meetings and other city meetings, I've come away with the feeling that our city government places their own urban development agenda far ahead of the needs of local businesses (and please God, let Redmond not screw up the THIRD time that Costco has tried to come to our city over the past 25 years).
For this reason, I will be supporting Steve Fields for mayor. He will bring the much needed business-based leadership background to our fair city government.
On the other hand, several supporters of our current mayor have recently touted his regional connections as a great benefit to Redmond. If that is true, all our mayor has to do is pick up the telephone and ask Bellevue for our REI store back!!!
It was a center of RTC, with climbing wall, bike shop, conveniently close to bike trails. We used to bike on river trail, visit RTC, shop a little while daughter is climbing... In old good days, it used to be Borders too. Now RTC will be just empty and useless.
ReplyDeleteThe new store will not have climbing wall, AFAIK. The new location is selected in the middle of a permanent traffic jam, unlikely I would go there often.
What is going through the head of REI owners? They own the building so it cannot be high rent. Are the people who live in Bellevue that unwilling to drive 5 more miles? The new proposed location for REI presents a logistical nightmare for their customers. Had they stayed in Redmond, they would be getting the benefits of the new metro link that should be coming to Redmond. Instead their shoppers will have to endure a traffic nightmare. I for one think that REI has gone down hill since it left the first store location in Seattle and it seems to be making yet another bad choice in its downhill slide. But since it has turned into little more than a high priced store for sport attire it should fit well into Bellevue. Redmond's bicycle shops can fill the gap easily and serious climbers find little left for them at REI anyway.
ReplyDeleteI know....lets make MORE apartments in Redmond in the old REI space...what a great idea. Someone can charge 3500/month for 850 square feet and no parking. It's ridiculous. RTC is now an even bigger joke.
ReplyDeleteThis is mostly why I plan on leaving Redmond, and Washington for that matter. I've been out here for 10 years, back in 2008 I was paying $1400 for a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment with a nice size kitchen. That same apartment is now $3300 a month. With the loss of so many stores including REI from Redmond I don't understand why we must pay downtown Manhattan and San Francisco rent prices and not get the perks from living in those cities. What do I get for my $3300 a month? There are no major retailers left in Redmond, no 24hr or open late legitimate restaurants, no beach that's down the street. All I see going up in Redmond is more apartment buildings with $1600 rents for 400sq/ft studios. The loss of REI to redmond I think was really the last straw for me. I'm a big Seahawks fan and was one of the things that kept me in Washington but I can't justify living in retail hell here in Redmond while paying astronomical rent that provides nothing besides 4 walls and a roof. Redmond needs to get its act together, once the apartment gold rush ends and people finally say no were not paying for this unless the city has something to offer us Redmond is going to be screwed because they simply wont have the space to build anything else. It will be all hotels and apartments, with crappy stores nobody wants.
ReplyDeleteI won't be driving to Hellevue for REI stuff. I'll just order it online from Amazon I guess. Goodbye REI.
ReplyDelete