GRAND RAPIDS — New-to-market retailers continue to focus on the vicinity of the 28th Street-East Beltline Avenue intersection for store locations.
Kent, Wash.-based outdoor lifestyle retailer Recreational Equipment Inc., more commonly known as REI, plans to open a 20,000-square-foot co-op store at 3149 28th St. SE on land that’s part of Woodland Mall, according to a statement.
The store, slated to open next spring, would be the retailer’s fourth location in the state after sites in Ann Arbor, Northville and Troy.
“This new location will allow us to connect nearly 10,000 active REI members in Grand Rapids to the many outdoor activities this region has to offer,” Michelle Yancy, REI’s retail director for the Midwest district, said in a statement.
REI’s announcement of a store near the busy 28th Street and East Beltline intersection follows outdoor goods retailer Sierra Trading Post opening a location earlier this year at the Shops at Centerpointe Mall.
The North Face Inc., another high-end outdoor clothing goods retailer, currently operates a store within Woodland Mall.
The area around the intersection has been one of the hottest retail submarkets in the West Michigan region in recent years. A quarterly report released in April by the Grand Rapids office of commercial brokerage Colliers International Inc. determined the area has a retail vacancy rate of 8.72 percent in 218 buildings totalling more than 7.2 million square feet of real estate.
Woodland Mall also is undergoing a $100 million redevelopment to make way for new retailers, restaurants and other users, as MiBiz previously reported.
