Anchor's Away -- Neighboring Stores Wonder If They Will Still Prosper Without Rei's Spillover Business

REI's plans to leave Capitol Hill has rocked the collection of small, mostly sports-oriented stores that has sprung up around the outdoor-gear cooperative.

Each year, REI's big, rambling flagship store at 1525 11th Ave. draws more than 100,000 co-op members. Those customers also patronize other stores in the neighborhood. Some say between 20 percent and 30 percent of their business comes because REI is nearby.

"They're obviously the Big Kahuna," says Beau Sabick, owner of 2nd Base, a used and vintage sporting-goods store across the street from REI.

Says Sabick, whose shop sells everything from hickory skis with bear-claw bindings to well-worn baseball gloves, "I've really prospered because of them."

Whether that prosperity will continue after REI pulls up stakes and moves to a new site near Lake Union is the question on shopkeepers minds now. Typically, retail areas require large, anchor stores - such as a Nordstrom or a Bon Marche in a shopping mall - to attract shoppers.

The departure of an anchor, such as REI, threatens the survival of neighboring stores, says University of Washington retail professor Douglas MacLachlan.

"The likely impact is negative," says MacLachlan, adding that shops usually thrive when they cluster with complementary stores, creating a shopping destination for certain types of goods - such as sporting goods in the case of REI's neighborhood.

"Clearly," MacLachlan says, "there is some attractive power for the area that is going to decline."

REI has been a fixture in the area for so long that some can't imagine the neighborhood without it. Since 1962, it has anchored the block on 11th Avenue between East Pike and East Pine streets, spreading through various buildings on the block, swallowing storefronts and adding parking lots, which, nonetheless, always seemed full.

REI plans to move to Eastlake Avenue East and John Street, in the Cascade neighborhood, in about two years. The site is on the fringes of the area surrounding the future Seattle Commons, offering good access and visibility from I-5 - a plus for a cooperative with more than 1 million active members nationwide.

It also gives REI a chance to design a modern store more suited to its needs, and build an on-site parking garage.

REI's current, 37,000-square-foot retail space snakes around through five levels filled with camping gear and kayaks, climbing gear, bikes and skis. Another 28,000 square feet or so has been scavenged from odd corners and crannies, rental houses and repair shops, inventory and offices. REI also has a mail-order and distribution center in Sumner.

REI told neighbors of its planned move before it was announced publicly. Still, the news came as a shock to some. Many are pondering alternatives.

Sabick, of 2nd Base, may open a second store aimed at the children's market. Or he might focus more energy on the non-retail side of his business, which supplies props for store windows and displays, movies and the TV show "Northern Exposure."

At the Foot Zone store a block from REI, manager Cindy Thomas professed little concern about the REI move, saying her newly opened sport shoe store has its own niche. She estimates somewhat less than 30 percent of her business comes from REI.

Crescent Down Works opened a store across the street from REI, selling snowboards, skateboards and down clothing, just as the REI plans became public. Store owner Anne Michelson, who also owns Cafe Paradiso, a block away, had heard rumors of REI's planned move. But she decided to take the plunge anyway.

"We'll feel it, there's no doubt," says Michelson. "But it's not going to kill us."

Most neighbors are putting a positive face on the situation. The Encore Tavern, across 11th Avenue from REI, has never gotten much spillover business from REI and is looking forward to more on-street parking.

Velo Stores, which owns two bicycle stores next door to REI on 11th Avenue, figures the move will prod it to make its stores more distinctive, so it won't have to rely on REI traffic.

Michelson says an urban subculture separate from REI is emerging in the area, and it may continue to thrive.

"The neighborhood," she says, "is more than REI."

Perhaps. Still, some store owners are considering relocating, either following REI or moving out of the neighborhood.

Feathered Friends, 1516 11th Ave., which sells custom-made down clothing and sleeping bags, may move when REI leaves, says owner Peter Hickner. The shop lease runs out about the time REI plans to move.

"We almost look at ourselves as a department of REI," says Hickner. A little less than 20 percent of its business (it has two stores and a mail-order department) comes from REI referrals.

Feathered Friends has also been looking at REI's future neighborhood ever since plans for the Seattle Commons - which Hickner thinks would be an ideal neighbor for a sporting-goods store - became known.

The news isn't all bad for those stores which remain, says MacLachlan of the UW.

Shops offering hard-to-find goods and services may continue to prosper, because they draw from a broader area and aren't merely catching traffic from REI.

But stores that offer widely available goods may face harder times, unless they change their merchandise mix.

"It's the idea of finding a niche that is valuable and differentiates themselves from potential competitors that causes stores to survive," he says.

Remaining stores might strengthen their draw by banding together and promoting themselves as a sporting-goods shopping destination apart from REI, MacLachlan says.

And, of course, retailers' plans to stay put could be greatly affected by the future of REI's building, once it's empty.

Sabick, for one, is waiting to see what the future brings.

"It'll be interesting to see what goes in there," he says.