EVO Expands in Seattle

Tiffany Montgomery for the Daily:

Evo’s sister company has been buying up property around its Seattle store to create a collective of active and outdoor businesses. The latest project – the construction of a 120,000-square-foot office building, the future HQ of Brooks Running.

Taking a page out of the McDonalds playbook: “Yes, you’re selling hamburgers, but really you’re in the real estate business.”

The diversification of the evo business is becoming increasingly important to riding out highs and lows. As many other industry retailers have experienced, the past two years has been tough for evo retail in North America. 

While the other big outdoor company in Seattle, REI, sold off their headquarters to Meta during the pandemic, EVO seems to be going all in on real estate. And who can blame them, Seattle is still an insane boom town.