Soho REI at the Puck Building Sets Its Official Closing Date

The Lafayette Street outpost of the outdoor gear chain has confirmed a final day of operations, ending a run inside one of Soho's most recognizable cast-iron landmarks.

The REI Co-op location at 303 Lafayette Street, inside the Puck Building, has announced an official closing date.
The store occupies a flagship-scale footprint in a building completed in 1886 and landmarked by the city.
No replacement tenant for the REI space has been publicly announced.
The closure is the latest in a string of large-format retail departures from the Soho and Noho corridors.
REI operates roughly 180 locations nationally; the Soho store was among its higher-profile urban outposts.

The REI Co-op at 303 Lafayette Street has a closing date. The outdoor gear retailer confirmed the end of its run at the Puck Building, the landmarked 1886 Romanesque Revival structure straddling the Soho-Noho border, according to reporting by Curbed published this week.

The store occupies a substantial ground-floor and basement footprint in a building better known for its Houston Street corner turret and its recurring cameo in establishing shots of downtown Manhattan.

No incoming tenant for the space has been announced. The Puck Building's ownership, the Kushner Companies, has not publicly commented on what follows.

The Lafayette Street REI was among the chain's more conspicuous urban locations — a place where a shopper could buy a $340 Arc'teryx shell three blocks from the Broadway-Lafayette subway entrance.

The store sold camping equipment. The building it leaves behind is a designated New York City landmark. Neither fact complicated the lease.