When Whole Foods departs, REI will hike in
Source: Austin American Statesman
Renuka Rayasam

Recreational Equipment Inc. plans to open its second Austin store in the fall of 2005 in what is now the Whole Foods grocery store at West Sixth Street and Lamar Boulevard.

REI, which sells a wide variety of outdoor gear, from canoes and mountain bikes to climbing and camping equipment, will be the first new tenant for the Schlosser Development Corp. project, which will turn the grocery store into an urban mall.


The store is being vacated because Whole Foods will be moving into a new 80,000-square-foot store across Sixth Street early next year.

Washington-based REI opened its first Austin store in 1989 at West 12th Street and Lamar. It moved six years later to a 35,000-square-foot space in the Gateway Shopping Center near the intersection of Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) and Research Boulevard (U.S. 183) in North Austin.

Mike Foley, a spokesman for REI, said the new store is part of a strategy of developing smaller stores in downtown and central city areas.

The new location "is an exciting combination of top-end interesting retailers and restaurants," he said. He said negotiations on a lease are in the final stages.

The 22,500-square-foot, two-story store will have Internet kiosks, a gear-rental department and ski and bicycle repair, along with REI's usual products. It will employ about 50.

Schlosser is still lining up tenants for the rest of the Whole Foods space and for additional retail space it plans on Lamar between Sixth and Seventh streets.

Including the block east of the new Whole Foods site, Schlosser controls a four-block area at the west end of downtown, which it's calling the Market District.

In the past few years, that part of downtown has seen a surge of development, including apartment and condominium projects, with more planned.

REI was founded in 1938, and is a cooperative. Anyone can shop there, but the 2 million members, including 15,000 in Austin, receive an annual refund of a small part of their purchases, based on the company's profits.

The company has 70 stores in 24 states and a catalog and Internet operation. REI Adventures organizes trips around the world, from hiking expeditions in Colorado to cruises in Antarctica.

REI is no stranger to having Whole Foods as a neighbor. Its North Austin store, and others around the country, are next door to the natural foods grocer.

"Whole Foods and REI seemed to have developed a kind of serendipitous, symbiotic relationship without really planning it," said Foley.

But some of REI's new Austin neighbors have mixed feelings.

"Truthfully, I was thinking more about local independent businesses or at least a unique national business, not one that is already here and somewhere else," said Steve Bercu, a co-owner of Book People, which is next to where REI will move in. "I don't see much impact, because it's simply splitting up the existing business with Whole Earth."

Whole Earth Provision Co., just a few blocks north on Lamar, sells camping equipment and outdoor clothing but also stocks books, toys, bird feeders and gift items.

John Kunz, who owns Waterloo Records, said he also thinks REI doesn't add enough to the retail mix in the area.

But he said the entire area will benefit when Schlosser is able to fill the store with new tenants -- and when the months-long reconstruction of Lamar is complete.

Everyone will benefit "when (the area) starts drawing customers instead of construction workers," he said

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