REI Co-op To Open in Santa Cruz This Fall, By Jondi Gumz

COMMUNITY NEWS REI Co-op To Open in Santa Cruz This Fall

By Jondi Gumz

On Feb. 18, REI Co-op, the outdoor retailer, announced plans to open a store in Santa Cruz in fall 2021 at the former Toys R Us at 1660 Commercial Way.

“The Santa Cruz community is passionate about their outdoor places and REI is excited to bring a store to the area to connect with the community even more,” said Kirk Peterson, REI regional director of Northern California. “We have a lot of REI members that live or recreate around Santa Cruz, and this new location will be a hub to provide resources, expertise and gear for residents and visitors to enjoy the outdoors.”

REI expects to hire nearly 50 employees for the Santa Cruz location, which is next to Marshall’s and has been vacant for almost three years.

At 22,622 square feet, the space seems large but it will include a professional bike shop and ski shop service, and it’s close to the average REI store size of 24,000 square feet.

The store is expected to offer virtual classes, workshops, and guided outdoor experiences with programming such as Learn to Kayak, How to Ride a Bike, Backcountry Navigation with a Map and Compass and more. Popular day trips like REI’s Bike N Brews Tour: Santa Cruz Coast are expected to return once the COVID-19 pandemic fades.

In the past five years, REI reports such classes and trips helped 110,000 people in northern California connect to the outdoors.

In Santa Cruz, REI will compete with Patagonia Outlet, still privately held by its

Future location of an REI sporting goods store. founder, the publicly traded chain Big Five Sporting Goods chain, Helm of Sun Valley with ownership in San Jose, and locally owned Down Works, Outdoor World Sporting Goods and numerous bike shops.

The landlord is locally owned Redtree Properties, which assembled the properties in the area for a development that initially included the computer store Circuit City.

Soon CVS will begin construction on a drive-through pharmacy at 1515 Commercial Way, forcing Décor Furniture into a going-outof-business sale. Numerous brand-name retail chains have been burdened with debt by private equity owners who expected big payouts on borrowed money. Payless ShoeSource, Gymboree, and The Limited are among those that struggled and closed. In contrast REI, founded in 1938 as a member-owned co-op, is on a growth spurt. There are 168 stores currently with new ones planned in Tampa, Jackson, Wyoming, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and Orland Park, Illinois. Last year — despite COVID-19 — openings took place in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Appleton, Wisconsin, Columbia, South Carolina, Wichita Kansas, Billings, Montana and Gainesville, Florida.

REI Santa Cruz will be the co-op’s 15th location in Northern California where 1.4 people are lifetime REI members. The stores closest to Santa Cruz have been Saratoga and Marina, a 90-minute round trip at minimum and more with traffic.

In the last five years, REI reports investing $3.4 million in local outdoor nonprofits in the region to get people outside, with $125,000 directly benefitting the Santa Cruz community. This includes support for local nonprofits like Ventana Wilderness Alliance, Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz, Ecology Action and Sempervirens Fund. Such support is expected to continue, REI said. n

•••

To join the REI team, apply online at REI. com/jobs Candidates must set up a job alert to be notified when positions are posted for the Santa Cruz store. New employees will get professional growth opportunities, 50 percent off REI gear and apparel and 30 percent off brand gear and apparel, competitive pay and retirement plan, two paid “Co-op Way Days” each year to get outdoors and paid day off on Black Friday to #OptOutside.

“We have a lot of REI members that live or recreate around Santa Cruz, and this new location will be a hub to provide resources, expertise and gear for residents and visitors to enjoy the outdoors.”

— Kirk Peterson, REI regional director of NorCal

“Ag Tech” from page 12

On March 19, a panel discussion features Leon Brish, co-founder and CEO of FarmDog; Mariana Valdez, soil science manager for Ag-Wise Enterprises; and Sebastien Boyer, co-founder and CEO of FarmWise, which made Time magazine’s Best Inventions of 2020 for its autonomous weeder.

Next will be Dr. Peter Livingston, head of the BioResource & Agricultural Engineering Department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Chris Kitts, director of the Robotic Systems Laboratory at Santa Clara University.

In the afternoon, international presenters are Tomás Peña, co-founder of S4, one of Argentina’s earliest AgTech startups; agricultural economist Elisa Blanco, co-founder of the Center for Water Law and Management in Chile; and Jairo Trad, a software developer and entrepreneur with business in six Latin American countries and the U.S.

A fireside chat on education will include Tom Nunes, a fourth-generation farmer and president of the Nunes Co., a grower-shipper with production in California, Arizona and Nevada; John D’Arrigo, president, CEO and chairman of D’Arrigo Bros.; and Miles Reiter, CEO and chairman of Driscoll’s. Moderator will be Brie Reiter Smith, director of Driscoll’s quality systems design, supply chain. n •••

For information, contact Clint Cowden at (831) 755-6702 or ccowden@hartnell.edu.