After driving Starbucks to Nashville, Mayor Katie Wilson has set her sights on REI. It’s time for the co-op to do what Starbucks should have done move across the city line, not across the state line.
Seattle has a pattern now. A company is born here, grows here, becomes a symbol of the Pacific Northwest and then the city’s leadership declares war on it. We watched it happen to Starbucks. We may be watching it happen to REI.
Just nine days after winning the Seattle mayoral election, Katie Wilson stood on a picket line outside Starbucks and told the crowd. “I am not buying Starbucks, and you should not either.” That was her first public act as mayor elect. Not a policy announcement. Not a housing plan. A boycott of a company that employs thousands of Seattleites, offers health care, paid vacation and free college tuition to its workers.
The result was predictable to anyone paying attention. Starbucks began exploring a move first to Bellevue, then past the state line entirely committing to 2,000 new jobs in Nashville, Tennessee. Seattle’s track record with its most iconic employers is becoming a crisis.
“When workers’ rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back.” Mayor Wilson, to a crowd outside Starbucks headquarters. Starbucks called Nashville the next week.
Now REI Is in the Crosshairs
REI was founded in Seattle in 1938. It is one of the country’s most recognized outdoor retailers, a consumer co-op with over 26 million members. And it is now facing a coordinated boycott campaign with union pressure from multiple fronts . At a moment when Seattle’s political climate has never been more hostile to business.
The boycott of REI’s Anniversary Sale, running May 15–25, has drawn over 70,000 pledge signers. And the pressure is coming from beyond the retail workers union. The Seattle Education Association has joined the pile on. Posting on social media urging its members to “sit out the sale” and directing followers to BoycottREI.com. When the teachers union is calling for a boycott of an outdoor gear retailer, you know Seattle’s political environment has gone somewhere unusual. REI’s flagship store sits squarely in a city whose mayor has made clear she views business as an adversary not a partner.
I don’t want REI to leave Washington. I hope they won’t. REI is a Washington institution and its roots, its members and its culture are deeply tied to the Pacific Northwest. But if the political environment in Seattle has become untenable. As it clearly has then there is a better answer than Nashville or Atlanta or Austin.
Move to Congressional District 1.
The Case for Staying in Washington — Just Not in Seattle
REI has been here before. In 2016, the company announced plans for a stunning new flagship campus in Bellevue’s Spring District . An 8-acre, transit oriented neighborhood designed with trails, green spaces and architecture that embodied the co-op’s outdoor values. Construction began. The campus was nearly finished. And then citing the COVID-19 pandemic, REI sold it to Facebook for nearly $368 million and shifted to a distributed work model.
That decision made sense in 2020. This is 2026. The world has changed. The Spring District now has its own stop on the 2 Line light rail . Which as of March 28, 2026, finally crossed Lake Washington and connected Bellevue directly to downtown Seattle in under 30 minutes. The case for a Bellevue or Kirkland flagship has never been stronger.
Washington’s 1st Congressional District covers some of the most outdoor recreation oriented communities in the state Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Kenmore, Woodinville. These are the people who buy REI memberships, fill their garages with gear and spend their weekends on the trails of the Cascades and the waters of Lake Washington. This is REI’s customer base. This is where REI belongs.
Where Should the Flagship Go?
The first stop inside CD-1 off the new 2 Line crossing Lake Washington. A 1,500-stall park and ride makes this supremely accessible by both car and transit. Cougar Mountain trails are minutes away. An unbeatable setting for an REI flagship with outdoor programming.
■ 2 Line Light Rail DirectREI broke ground on a campus here in 2018. The neighborhood was purpose built around REI’s values. Walkable, trail adjacent, transit connected. Now that the 2 Line is open, the Spring District is 28 minutes from downtown Seattle by rail. It’s time to come back and finish what was started.
■ Spring District Station — 2 LineWith Lincoln Square, The Bravern and a dense urban core, downtown Bellevue offers the foot traffic and retail energy that a flagship store demands. Direct 2 Line service connects it to all of Seattle’s major neighborhoods, Capitol Hill, UW, U District, Northgate in addition to Redmond and Lynnwood.
■ Bellevue Downtown Station — 2 LineKirkland Urban is a thriving mixed use destination on the shores of Lake Washington. Home to restaurants, shops and one of the most active outdoor recreation communities on the Eastside. Bus route 255 connects downtown Kirkland to the 2 Line light rail network giving transit riders a direct path.
■ Bus 255 → 2 Line ConnectionREI’s story is a Washington story. Founded here. Built here. Shaped by the mountains, forests and waters that define this region. It would be a genuine loss not just for the economy, but for the identity of this state. To watch it follow Starbucks past the state line because Seattle’s leadership chose ideology over partnership.
The Eastside is ready. The light rail is running. The trails are there. The members are there. Congressional District 1 offers REI something Seattle’s current leadership cannot. A community that wants it, welcomes it and will celebrate its presence rather than organize against it.
The choice isn’t Seattle or out of state. There’s a third path and it’s 25 minutes away by train.
The author IS A candidate FOR CoNGRESs IN Washington’s 1st DISTRICT.