REI Co-op will open its new Appleton, Wisc. -area store today, located at 3850 W. Wisconsin Ave., which is visible from Interstate 41 in the development anchored by WG&R Furniture in Grand Chute.
The store is descrived in local reports as “no-frills space with a high ceiling, skylights, cement floors and raw wood walls.”
The opening was delayed more than three months by the coronavirus pandemic. The store’s 43 employees were trained virtually through live online sessions. The on-site classroom and dressing rooms are shuttered for the time being.
This is REI’s first store in northeast Wisconsin and third in the state. Wisconsin has nearly 300,000 REI members, and until now the nearest store was in Brookfield, 84 miles from Appleton.
“When Wisconsinites go to play, this will be the last stop for them as they go up north,” said store manager Gary Kim.
