And once the city pays to rebuild the volleyball court will the city actually even clear any money at all?
Aside from this, would you (or myself) drive 100 miles from OKC to feel "REI legit"? I sure wouldn’t. If there is something I need that bad from REI can I not order it on-line and pay the use tax? I honestly don’t have a clue what that item would be I could not find in another shop which is already here, particularly at a place like Backwoods in The Farm.
The last thing I recall buying from REI was about 20 years ago in Denver and I just remember it was something I needed for myself to take some clients skiing the next day so I wouldn’t freeze my arse off and that store was convenient to my hotel.
My wife and I were touring course marshals for the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado last summer. We are what I would call very active outdoors enthusiasts.Our final deployment for the week was near the Denver store downtown and we could have gone there later that day or the following day prior to leaving Denver. We didn’t. We drove past the Fort Collins REI store a few times, we didn’t stop there then either.
In the last two years between multiple trips to New Mexico or Colorado, we stopped in independent outfitter stores we usually deal with in Leadville, Pagosa Springs, Durango, Salida, Breckenridge, Steamboat, Dillon, Albuquerque, Taos, Angel Fire, etc. just to browse or if we did need something, we never sought out an REI just because Tulsa didn’t have one, it never dawned on us to venture into the expanse of an REI.
I don’t think REI is that much of a draw for Tulsa. What is so compelling about REI that you cannot satisfy with local retailers or other national retailers who have been here for some time in the first place?
I’ve always thought of myself as the “average consumer”. I support local, eschew national as much as is possible in this day and age, and tourism for the sake of shopping simply is not my bag. Does that make me an anomaly I’m simply not aware of?
I really don’t get the cachet of having an REI in Tulsa when it’s on a total give away deal for the land. Why would someone from Denver, Dallas, or Houston here on energy business go shop at Tulsa’s REI when they can do that in their own home town? What does REI sell that would make someone get in their car and drive from Owasso, Muskogee, or Bartlesville to purchase in sufficient quantities to support this total give-away?
To my knowledge, REI doesn’t do anything different than any other sporting goods retailer to woo high school sports business that Academy, Dick’s, et al doesn’t do. So where is the sales tax lift from this project??? How much sales tax does a remote bank branch (which has been a part of this project from the beginning) generate?...Oh...wait...none!
Just for fun, do this: Enter a major city name then “REI” and chances are, they have a store there. So anyone here on business with an REI in their hometown isn’t likely to have an impulse to shop at ours if they come from an MSA equal to or larger than our own. It’s like Bass Pro in terms of over-hyped and over-exploited retail. Bass Pro was another cool concept prior to the internet too and when there were just a few terrestrial locations.
Why has the self-esteem of our city sunk so low that we will go to incredibly stupid means to recruit ubiquitous development with less than 10% sales and/or property tax lift? I really do not get it. REI is as compelling as Academy, Sports Authority, or Dick’s and I don’t recall any of those national chains being paid any greenmail to move here. There is something really corrupt or really stupid about this development that defies any logic.
If there was no other valid example to get rid of the current regime at City Hall, this should be it.