With the advent of the holiday season comes the height of shopping season. For the past two years REI has made the decision to close down on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, in an effort to encourage people to "Opt Outside". I came across an article on Fortune that delves into this decision (click HERE for article). This article clearly describes how REI cares to stress the importance of outdoor and real life experiences over material goods, and how this message "resonates with the company's core customer base". I would consider myself a part of REI's "core customer base" (mostly because of the sheer amount of outdoors gear I've purchased there in the past 19 years) and to me this is a very honorable initiative, especially during the peak of shopping season. In addition to the message this sends to the public, the Opt Outside initiative also is great for REI's employees. During my 21 day thru hike of the Long Trail in Vermont, one of the thru hikers I met along the way (trail name "Spotlight") was a middle manager at an REI. Her love for her job and insistance on how great of a company it was to work for proved to me that REI is truly doing it right. Despite the losses in money they must take on Black Friday, I'm sure that they more than make up for it with employee satisfaction and customer loyalty. They will forever have my business, that's for sure.
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