From Bad to Worse - REI Is Shutting Down Aspects of Their Business

A few months back I spoke of how poorly REI has been performing financially and now, things have gone from Bad to even Worse.

REI just announced that they will be shutting down aspects of their business.

REI is in MAJOR Trouble!
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[chetcreates]

As I'm now 67 years young, I recall a very different REI decades ago. Back then REI had great buys on their own branded equipment. Their warehouse type stores even had various types of fabric so you could make your own equipment. They weren't trying to be anything but a place where you could buy backpackpacking equipment, mountaineering gear and even some cycling gear. They weren't a travel agency. If you were a poor college student, you could get amazing deals on their used rental gear. They profoundly changed over the years. Instead of simple stores they moved to posh addresses. They lost their way. Pity.

[garrisong]

Anytime you bring politics into a business you are 100% going to alienate close to if not 1/2 or your customers. I believe we have witnessed over the last year just how true that is with some very big corporations.

[terrarecon]

REI has been on a downward spiral for years. They did this to themselves.

[rickquist]

REI was wonderful in the 70's & 80's. Every employee knew their stuff. The customer service and prices were fantastic.
They declined so badly that I haven't used them in over 20 years.

[larryschmidt]

REI was always overpriced and their attitude to anyone doing outdoor activities around hunting were atrocious. I was looking at silk Long Johns, when asked what I would be doing, I said hunting. At that point the employee walked away from me shaking their head. Have never gone back.

[MeMe-cdwy]

It might help to stop paying board members $400, 000. Not sure how it qualifies as nonprofit. We can no longer vote for board member. The list of candidates are created by people who are already on the board. You can’t nominate candidates. It is a closed system.

[Greg-tksf]

This is what happens when you alienate your primary customers.

[tml]

When they started going after gun owners was the day I quit going there. I had been a member of REI when they was just mail order back in the 80’s. They made it clear they didn’t want people like me in the store.

[TH-rjds]

I walked away from REI in the late 90s and never looked back. Their pricing and politics cannot compete against the online marketplace.

[Blueskyredrocks]

I was the target customer outdoors non Hunter, I got into the outdoors buying all my stuff from them. They alienated even me. Forget woke they really just turned their stories into women clothing stores with outdoor gear as decorations.

[johnpaulson]

REI devolved into another clothing store, which is the historic deathknell of all “outdoor”-“sports” stores. When leadership decides product mix based solely based on margins, they can’t help themselves—because clothing sales provide the greatest margins. Welcome to the “Sears Effect”.

[billk]

58 year member. Ive unfortunately watched the slow decline of REI, and others, with the blatant injection of politics into their business model. When you alienate a significant portion of your customer base, failure eventually follows.

[scottroberts]

When REI in Portland OR closed due to policies both internal and external to the store that allowed product to walk out the door only to be sold at low low discount prices at a nearby underpass, it was going bad for REI. Why should I subsidize theft and pay top dollar for merchandise that clearly could be sold at a much lower price and still make a decent profit if the stealing was stopped. When you stop punishing criminals the consequences eventually fall on the honest.

[dracphelan]

I have been an REI member since the late 90s. When I joined they were on the cutting edge of the backpacking world. But, I've noticed that they are no longer there. If you want high quality and low weight gear, you have to go elsewhere for your primary purchases.
Then, you get into their decision to back anti-gun and anti-hunting groups. This alienated a huge chunk of the outdoor community.

[e_personal]

I stopped buying from them because of their anti-Liberty Emotion-Authoritarian politics. I said so in a review, and got some sarcastic remarks from others.
Well, they desrved their current situaiton.

[lucaszak]

I am not surprised. REI is following the same death spiral as the Canadian version of the same store, the MEC. MEC turned into exclusive and super expensive gear, which isolated its core group of everyday outdoor enthusiasts. Essentially, only wealthy patrons could shop there.

[Username]

For being a co-op, they sure don't listen to members.

[NewsGuy_]

I believe Dicks Sporting Goods is on the same path. They’re going political and are alienating a good portion of their customers.

[recoblade]

Allowing politics regardless of your political party any politics dictate how you do business is a bad way to do business

[terrym]

Back in the day REI was a great store, prices were reasonable, in store help was fantastic. Individual departments had at least one expert or more to help with decision making, fitting, measuring ETC., a quality experience over all. Being a co-op member paid dividends as well. After years of being anti hunting, anti 2nd amendment, they destroyed their primary customer base. Too bad it has come to this, go woke go broke.