REI to open first Ohio store in 2012
US sports apparel and equipment retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) will open its first store in Ohio at Rookwood Commons in autumn 2012.
Mark Fallon, vice president of leasing at Rockwood Commons, along with centre developer and manager Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate, said Cincinnati town had been courting REI for 18 months. “We saw them as the best of the best nationally in sporting goods, and one people travel the farthest to get to,” Mr Fallon said. “This was our way of landing the big fish.”
REI expects to hire a store manager and 50 employees beginning in early 2012. The retailer says it will offer the widest selection of camping, paddling and hiking equipment, road and mountain bicycles, running and fitness apparel, travel accessories and snow sports gear in the region.
It also will host weekly “how-to” classes, deploy staff and funds to community service projects and link up its customers with local outfitters and outdoor activities. A service shop will be open to fix bikes, skis and snowboards. A rental shop will lend camping and travel gear.
“Cincinnati is a great recreational market and a beautiful city,” said Michelle Yancy, retail director for REI’s Midwest region. “There are lots of good competitors already and lots of community partner opportunities. We want to help introduce new folks to the outdoors as well.”
Cincinnati is a key expansion market for REI because it already has 5,000 local co-op members and evidence that those shoppers typically buy in Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh stores, or online, Ms Yancy said.
