REI will shut up store in Santa Monica on the finish of the month, marking the second transfer out of a busy downtown space this month for the outside retail large.
REI Co-op’s location within the coronary heart of Portland closed earlier this month.
In each instances, the corporate has both already opened, or quickly plans to open, shops in additional suburban areas close by — one location in Marina del Rey, which opened final summer time, and one other in Beaverton, a suburb of Portland, which is slated to open this spring.
The closure of the Santa Monica outlet, which opened in 2006, marks the most recent blow for one of many coastal metropolis’s key buying districts, which has recently begun to construct again some momentum after struggling to regain its footing lately.
The bustling vacationer vacation spot, which took a giant hit throughout COVID-19 shutdowns, has drawn criticism from some locals about public security and homelessness, in addition to counter-criticism that these complaints are overblown. A Occasions overview in late 2022 discovered that police requires service within the metropolis declined sharply in 2020 relative to the six years earlier and that that they had stayed comparatively flat.
Representatives for REI didn’t instantly reply to questions on why they’re leaving the Santa Monica location, which formally closes at 6 p.m. on Feb. 29, or concerning the January closure of a retailer in Fremont, Calif.
The corporate beforehand put out a press release about leaving Portland, saying that the shop had within the final yr skilled “its highest variety of break-ins and thefts in twenty years, regardless of actions to offer additional safety.”
Though REI stated within the assertion that it didn’t intend to return to downtown Portland within the close to time period, the retailer pointed customers to a few places in close by suburbs.
