Outdoor retailer Recreational Equipment, Inc., known as REI, has announced it will buck Black Friday and close its 143 stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Its real store employees received paid free time on two of the most important shopping dates of the year.
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In 2015, REI, the outdoor gear retailer made a decision to put credo into practice in the most unlikely of shopping days.
“Instead of reporting to work, we’re paying our employees to do what we love most – be outside”, REI said in a statement.
For a couple of years, American vendors have been putting pressure on the retail market and its workforce so that more shops stay open during the holidays.
“When we take a look at REI, it’s a different kind of company, 1) it’s very focused on the outdoors and 2) it’s a co-op, in terms they have a membership group, and don’t do a lot of promotions”, said Brennan, who is co-director of the Institute for Retailing Excellence.
While the REI store is one with being outdoors for the holidays, Macys, however, announced that it will even have a special opening of their 800 stores exactly on Thanksgiving Day at 8 p.m. “after families across the country have finished their holiday meals and celebrations”, Macys announcement reads, per Fortune.
But for Stritzke and his company, money is not everything.
Instead of waiting for a sale, REI customers applaud move in line with other values.
About 90 percent of the sales happen due to members, which makes Stritzke confident that their loyalty can be maintained by the employee-friendly politics. It will still take orders online on Black Friday, but those orders won’t be filled until Saturday, says REI’s senior vice president of retailer Tim Spangler.
President/CEO Jerry Stritzke said he wasn’t sold on the idea at first, but believes that good deals can be had before and after Thanksgiving weekend and that it doesn’t have to be dominated by consumerism.
But that has changed drastically in recent years, with Black Friday losing its significance, for a variety of reasons.
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“We are choosing to invest in helping people get outside with loved ones this holiday season, over spending it in the aisles”.
