REI to Open in Cincinnati

Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI, Seattle) will enter the Ohio market in 2012 when it opens its first store in the state, at Cincinnati’s Rookwood Commons outdoor lifestyle center.

The outdoor gear retailer plans to open the store next fall and is taking over 21,000 square feet occupied formerly by Anthropologie and Coldwater Creek (which is moving to a smaller space within the shopping complex). The retailer will raise part of the roof to add a 4000-square-foot mezzanine along the back of the building for offices and storage.

Construction will start in January after more than a year-long courtship by Fallon and Anderson Real Estate to attract the retailer, which signed a 10-year lease.

The façade of the new store will include REI’s corrugated metal, wood trellis and black-and-white square sign. Following its corporate mission, REI will use environmentally friendly building materials and factor water management and energy efficiency into its store design.

“Cincinnati is a great recreational market and a beautiful city,” Michelle Yancy, retail director for REI’s Midwest region, told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “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.”

REI has recently expanded its reach to new markets in South Carolina and New York’s SoHo’s neighborhood. A store in Indianapolis is also planned for next year.