Recreational Equipment Inc. opens its eighth Colorado store in Westminster today.
The new store in the Orchard Town Center at Interstate 25 and 144th Avenue is expected to cater to the retailer’s 61,500 co-op members who live within 15 miles of the location.
“In a market like Denver, there is a real appreciation for the outdoors and you have great places to recreate,” said Brian Unmacht, REI’s executive vice president of sales and operations.
The 27,000-square-foot store has a full-service bike shop.
An REI store near the Westminster Mall was relocated to Boulder in 2002. Still, executives never took their eyes off Westminster, Unmacht said. The company began working on the new site nearly 15 months ago. The store is one of the greenest for the company and is a prototype for future locations, store manager Jason Orr said.
It uses a solar hot-water system and has environmentally friendly carpet, and a sensor dims lights to complement natural light.
Elizabeth Aguilera: 303-954-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com
