REI - Recreational Equipment, Inc. is the best place for all your outdoor equipment needs. Whether you are hiking, camping, climbing, or just enjoying nature, they have the supplies you need to get out and do more. Their staff was exceptionally helpful and got the gear I was looking for and even asked questions to make sure it was the right fit for my needs. They helped me to save money by utilizing my coupons. I have used REI for years, starting when they were a 'catalog only' store in this area in the 1970's. They have maps, tents, sleeping bags, back packs, stoves, lights, shoes, clothing, ropes, and climbing accessories. Stop by their location on Papermill Road for Christmas ideas as well. Follow me on Yelp for more places to shop and things to do in Knoxville and East Tennessee. read more

REI - REI - Recreational Equipment Inc. - Papermill Road - Sports Wear Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

See all

Friendly and helpful staff. The store is fairly large with fantastic pack displays and cycling department. Great re-sale section that was organized and clearly marked. read more

We made a quick stop on our way through TN, since I hadn't been to this location before and it's right off i40. The ReSupply corner was small and a little stinky. You could tell many of the items were worn and not washed. The shoes were in rough shape too. The folks working there were friendly and available enough. read more

Back in September 2022 I was in Knoxville for a job interview unfortunately while I was in town a hurricane hit my hometown in Fort Myers. A made an online order to pick up in store or hurricane supplies. Unfortunately, when I arrived, many of the items I needed were not in stock as expected. I feel terrible for the young cashier, I burst into tears at check out. Thankfully, the manager got involved made some calls and got me all the equipment I needed to go home to the hurricane ravages SWFL. I will be forever grateful to the store and staff for doing everything they could to help. read more

REI - Online pick up order - Sports Wear Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

My mom can never find socks she likes and she loves the socks from REI. We also get water-bottles from REI. The people are so nice and friendly too. It might be a bit expensive but it's all worth it. read more

Whenever my husband and I have an outdoor adventure, we check REI first. They have great customer service, decent prices, and excellent clearance sections...since we are members and have the REI MasterCard, we get added discounts and perks from our purchases. REI carries all the name brands and carries everything you may need for the outdoors. I recently needed some leg gaiters for a winter hike. They didn't carry my size in store, so I ordered it online and it was shipped to my house in time for my hike. I ordered on a Sunday evening and they arrived Friday evening. read more

See all

I'm a huge fan of REI in general, but this particular location is absolutely fantastic. I was in town for a women's mountain biking festival and these guys were able to get me stocked up with any last minute things I needed for the festival. I love that they stock local goods too - local stickers, artwork, and gear supporting the local AMBC chapter. That was so cool! I love my AMBC jersey - it is one of the most comfortable jerseys I own. I chatted with several of the guys and gals working here before heading to the festival, and they were all so excited for me, and gave me maps, suggestions on where to ride and things to check out while I was in the area. I felt like I was part of the family. Great suggestions, by the way! I had the pleasure of meeting the owner of this store while at the festival. What a fantastic human! Now I understand why this store is so great. 10/10 would recommend. I will absolutely come back here before riding down in Knoxville! read more

Needed some outdoor gear, and came here due to the lack of Target in the area. I entered with trepidation regarding prices, but it wasn't too bad, surprisingly. If you're like me and are always on the lookout for a deal, check their clearance racks; they have them in every section: men, women, and children! Also, if you're short like me, go through the kids' section, because the large sizes there will surely fit. I got a dope Patagonia rain coat and the coziest REI zip-up jacket, both for $130 total. I even saw some options on the clearance rack starting from $16, so look hard! Of course, the products go up to a few hundred dollars. It's a lot, but some of the things are worth it, especially if you're planning outdoors activities. An employee helped me find what I was looking for - I wish I remembered her name, but she was sweet! We also joined their membership club for $20, which allows you to receive 10% off of almost everything in the store automatically (paid back in an annual dividend), access to members-only deals, deep discounts on REI classes, events, and adventures, and can vote on the company's board of directors, among other perks. Also, learned that REI has a podcast, what! Excited to check it out! Overall, great products with some gems in there and helpful staff who knows the inventory quite well! read more

Stopped in today just to look and see if they had Chaco Sandals they only had 1 pair and they were women's 11 so that is a bummer. But on a positive note LOVE that they have more "Carve" brands! YAY! Thank you for bringing them back! We love our REI here and in Santa Fe, NM read more

Good wide selection of sport outdoor gear. From shoes and apparel to canoes and much more. They have special items and brands that you don't see in big sporting goods chains. Out in California I visited one that had a special yard sale twice a year. All the returns marked very low with defects listed or reason for returns. They had some great deals so hoping they do the same here. read more

REI - Sports Wear Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

See all

My husband and I moved here from out of state a few months ago and came here on Wednesday looking for hiking boots and a few other various items ! We immediately went back to the shoe department and the gentleman that helped us was friendly and extremely knowledgeable and actually went above and beyond for us both ! I am extremely picky with picking out the perfect boots and he was very patient as I tried on at least 7 pairs ! I eventually found a pair I absolutely loved and then he helped my husband ! We both purchased the boots that we not only needed but loved! I also tried on several shirts and shorts and both ladies that helped me in the apparel section were both super sweet and helpful! Even the checkout was amazing ! Great prices - comfortable and great looking hiking boots - very friendly staff - I highly recommend this R.E.I . read more

Avoid this REI. Brandon in shoes is slow, inefficient, and will ignore you. The store manager, Sarah, is argumentative over words plain enough for a child to understand vs. resolving an issue and selling a product. A simple exchange of footwear on a slow day with only 2 other customers, one ahead of me and the other behind me, took 57 minutes, and I had to endure utter incompetence and arguing semantics with an Idiot. read more

Disabled and they didn't perform as per their own website and local laws Banned from store for my disablility read more

Great store! My wife and I enjoy shopping with a team that is passionate about the community! I bought a gift for my wife had to return it due to color. No worries at all Sean took care of us and had it shipped to our door! We ordered from the website as they have multiple options. I only wished they had more color options in store than just one color for products. read more

REI - Checkout desk at REI Knoxville. - Sports Wear Near Me - Knoxville, Tennessee

See all

If you need some new gear to enjoy the Spring weather but want to maintain social distancing, REI on Papermill has curbside pickup! I made my purchase online, and my items were ready for pick-up the next morning. No waiting 5 days for delivery. My confirmation email had a link to notify staff when I arrived. Safe and easy! Rather than ordering for home delivery, let's do our part to help keep our Knoxville friends employed during temporary store closures! read more

I love this store! I was in here every day this weekend trying on hiking boots. The staff are so patient and understanding. They let me try on every boot I wanted, answered all my questions, and then when I decided on a shoe that wasn't at the store they helped me with ordering it. They are always very honest about what is and is not worth the money and they actually hire staff that are outdoorsy so they know what kind of gear to recommend. I'll definitely be back! read more

Very helpful staff. They search for the products you need on their website and place a special order for you if they don't have it in store. The returns are also easily made and they have lots of sales! read more

Super friendly staff who are very knowledgable about your adventure needs. Store has always been clean with all the items I need in stock. Great to have an REI in Knoxville! read more

The staff here was amazing, especially Nancy who worked endlessly to help my boyfriend & I find the exact gear we wanted during their Anniversary Sale. She was literally our Wonder Woman that night. Definitely stop by the Knoxville store if you want friendly faces and amazing help picking out your gear! read more

I have loved REI for a long time. They have great products and really helpful staff. Today I'm really crushing on REI because I came in for help with my kayak rack (the back half popped off, which was my fault not the gear or the installation that they did) and Shane from the bike shop came right out to look at it, re-installed the bar, and replaced a screw that I lost over the winter all for free. So once again REI has taken great care of their members and I am happily able to take my kayak out again tomorrow. Thanks for being the best, REI Knoxville! read more

I absolutely loved my time here at this REI location. The staff was super nice and very helpful. My check in bag went missing for my trip to the smokies and had to scramble to replace some of the missing items and they made that excruciating experience a bit more bearable. I am now an REI shopper for life. read more

This store would be great if they didn't have 100 pushy people working there. I was there for 15 minutes and had 7 people ask me if I needed help. And when I said no, they wouldn't leave it. read more

Always a great experience, no matter which REI I visit - and this one was no exception. Special thanks to Mike and T. Bird for helping me find a nice new pair of binoculars. Great customer service and straight-talk advice on which pair would best suit my needs. Hope to visit again soon! read more

An REI store is an REI store, you say. I disagree. You won't always find awesome service like I did in Knoxville. This REI store has made me a customer of the company for life. During a cross-country road trip a violent wind gust broke and bent several poles in our REI tent. Without a place for our family to sleep, we drove all night and called this store in the morning. Lindsay in camping was super helpful on the phone and in person and made sure we left with the right replacement equipment. She saved our trip! Thanks so much for all of your help. Here on out I'll only be buying REI gear and I will continue to keep up my membership. If gear costs more but they'll stand behind it, I'm game. If you live in the area, I highly recommend this store based on the first-rate service I met with here. read more

Big Mistake. Went to this store instead of my local outdoor store. I bought a $90.00 item and was told by the rep who helped me I would get 10% taken off at the counter because the packaging was damaged. That did not happen. Then, the item didn't work so I took it back....got the criminal treatment by the young man at the counter who knew nothing and could only issue a gift card back....because he didn't know how to do anything else. I learned my lesson the hard way. In outdoor equipment who you buy from matters, not just what you buy. The store is also awkwardly located and is hard to get in and out of due to the grocery store traffic. Terrible and costly experience. read more

We have been members of REI for over 30 years. Best products at fair prices. Helpful, and knowledgeable staff. The year end dividend (10% on all regular priced product purchased over the previous year) is great as well. When we are buying sporting, hiking, and camping goods and outdoor clothing, REI is our first choice. They have NEVER disappointed us. read more

Friendly staff, trendy clothing, great camping gear! Not much more needs to be said, I really love this store

I wish that I could give this location 10 stars! We stopped by on our way back to NC for a quick leg stretch and ended up taking advantage of one of their killer sales. We decided half way through checking out that we needed to buy another jacket, and our cashier was so patient and helpful through both transactions (I wish I had noticed her name to brag on her). In my typical clumsy fashion, after checking out, I dropped my wedding ring. So many employees helped out in trying to find it..full blown rescue mission style. We ended up leaving without the ring. As we finished up lunch next door, we got a call from the store saying they had found it! I feel like a lot of stores would have not worried about that or bothered to go through the trouble, but this spoke volumes about the employees at this location and REI as a whole. They are always willing to go out of their way to help their customers, and we are so grateful! As if we didn't have a million things we love about REI, today took the cake. Thank you again for all of your help! read more

I am extremely disappointed with this REI location. When I lived in Denver the locations there were way better. Which is the reason I chose to shop at this REI in the first place. I am not angry I am just disappointed in my over all experience and I still feel like I don't know anything about the product I purchased. On 5 different occasions I went to the store to get information and find out about buying a kayak for my sister for her birthday. The first time I brought her we had to wait forever for someone to help us. And when we did finally get someone it seemed like she barely knew her products. We left discouraged and went home to do online research. Another time we returned to the store (after we had chosen the kayak based on info from the Internet) we were ready to talk paddles. Again.... we had a hard time getting customer service. And again the salesperson didn't seem to know anything about the product. I asked her what the difference between two brands were. And she told me that one brand had better customer service. And that it was "the brand" everyone knew. That gave me no information about which one would suit the type of kayaking my sister would want to do. And ad far as sizing goes. She told my sister that she needed a certain size (a 220). And they only had the 230 in stock. She then proceeded to say it was fine if she wanted to get a 230. Which didn't make sense to me because she just told us she needed a different size. I felt like she was pushing just to get a sale out the door. She also assured me that when I came to pick up the kayak that they would secure it on the top of my jeep no problem with foam blocks. (Not telling me i would have to purchase said blocks). She also told my sister who has a mini cooper that if she wanted a roof rack it would have to be custom from mini cooper. Again we left planning to come back in a few days with my jeep so we could purchase the kayak and order the correct size paddle and bring the kayak home strapped to the roof of my car just like she said. So I go back to the store hopefully for a final time. Well I go in and yet again it takes awhile to get customer service. Once I do I tell him the kayak I want and the paddle and the size I need to order. As it turns out they had the size paddle I needed sitting in the back room. Which was a plus so I didn't have to order it. They bring the kayak over and I pay for my purchase. Then they ask what kind of vehicle I have after I've already paid for everything. They inform me it's against the rules to place the kayak on foam blocks on top of my car and that I would have to purchase some plus straps just to get the kayak home. Which it's not even for me in the first place. So why would I want to buy something for my car to carry around a kayak that's not mine? Luckily I also have a pickup truck handy. So I switched vehicles and went back to the store after I got off work. Again took awhile for someone to come to the desk. Then took them awhile to bring out the bright red giant kayak. And they actually brought me someone else's paddle. Luckily I'm a nice person person and instead of taking it told them it wasn't mine. They then set the kayak down next to me and started to walk off. I'm 8 months pregnant. Not only should they have offered to help load because I'm clearly not capable on my own, but because it's good customer service. I mean I've been to Kroger and bought one pineapple and they offered to help me to my car. I had to ask them to help. And they did a great job once I had asked them. The kayak is now at home and my sister is very happy with her birthday present. But I truly feel like I still know nothing about kayaks. And I think after multiple trips to a store I should at least have a little information. Like I i said I'm not mad, just very disappointed with the process I had to go through and still feel clueless. read more