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I have a sentence like this:
I will go to the store regardless of whether or not it's raining
Meaning that the weather has no bearing on my intent to go to the store. The "regardless of whether or not" is awkward, and it feels like bad grammar, but I can't think of a better way to say it.
What would the proper grammar be in this case?
The grammar is fine, but there are certainly less laboured ways to say it!
I will go to the store, whether it rains or not.
Raining or not, I'm going.
"Regardless of whether or not..." is correct, but it can be shortened to "Regardless of the weather",..." but can also be improved with "Regardless of whether it rains or not..." It does seem long, but the awkwardness is negligible, in my opinion. The idiom is like "in spite of"- the "of" is necessary; unlike "despite" which does not need the 'of'. 'Regardless' can be replaced by 'heedless', which has the same meaning and is also followed by "of".
There is nothing wrong with its grammar.
Its style is another matter, and you are right that it is more wordy than it strictly needs to be. If ever “omit needless words” applied, it would be here.
I think that "regardless of whether or not" is not only awkward, but twice superfluous. I got 'routed' here because I was searching for support for my belief that "regardless of" is a superfluous phrase, in that just about any sentence that I could render was just as effective without the word "of". The "or not" in your query just adds another layer of superfluous words. 'I'll go to the store regardless the weather'. With words, often, less is better.
