Outdoor retailer REI sets mid-November opening date for Sarasota store

Popular national specialty outdoor retailer REI Co-op has set an opening date — Nov. 10 — for its first Sarasota-Bradenton location.

The 25,000-square-foot store is at 161 N. Cattleman Road, in the West District at University Town Center, just off the University Parkway exit of Interstate 75. It’s between DSW and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Seattle-based REI has Florida locations in Tampa, Winter Park, Palm Beach Gardens, Boca Raton, Jacksonville and Tallahassee; the Tampa location in the Midtown development opened in 2021.

REI officials, in an email, say the company’s “grand openings are quite the celebration. It is not uncommon for 200+ people to be in line when we open, including the occasional longtime REI member who camps overnight or arrives in the early hours to hold the honor of first in line.”