REI Co-op, the prominent Pacific Northwest-based outdoor retailer, will move its current Market District Eugene store to Oakway Center, on the north side of the Willamette River, in 2026.
The co-op, which has over 137,000 people holding membership in Eugene and just under one million in Oregon, cited the opportunity to have a larger space and a greater offering of outdoor items as reasons for making the move.
The new location, at 95 Oakway Center, formerly Bed Bath and Beyond, is touted by REI as the second-largest in the state behind its Beaverton store.
“(Our original location) today is one of the smallest in the country,” Regional Director Bob Cagle said in a press release announcing the initiative. “Our Oakway Center space will be one level and nearly 10,000 square feet larger than the current store, enabling larger product assortments, improved dressing rooms and ample warehouse space.”
Two major additions to the Oakway Center REI location are a ski and snowboard shop and a full-service bike shop. For a town obsessed with the outdoors, bike and ski shops are surprisingly few and far between.
Only Berg’s Ski Shop and Tactics, two homegrown Eugene-based shops, offer dedicated snowboard gear, with only Berg’s offering rentals to customers.
“I can definitely see myself shopping at the new location,” Owen Pyle, a junior at the University of Oregon and avid skier, said. “I’m sure that it’ll definitely have some effect on Tactics and Bergs but I can’t really speak to the extent.”
Pyle, who is also a lift attendant at Willamette Pass Ski resort, added, “Tactics is always a sponsor of our events at Willamette and Berg’s has a lot of ties to the resort as well. I don’t know if a company like REI that isn’t snow-focused or local would be as committed about giving back to the community and that’s definitely worrying.”
REI also plans to feature a Re/Supply store in their new location, which allows customers to shop used gear at discounted prices. “I’m really excited about the secondhand store,” Pyle said.
REI added in its press release that it currently employs 41 workers at the Eugene branch. All will be welcome to continue their employment at the new store. No decisions concerning additional hiring have been made yet.
