REI to Close Stores on Black Friday

It's not even Black Friday anymore.We(Wally world) have all the good stuff at 8pm on thanksgiving.Friday is all the clothes and bath towels and $5 toasters.

Sometimes I buy climbing gear from them. Always get good customer service. Nice people at least in my town.

IMO I think it is a wonderful concept. There is no real reason for a Black Friday. It is all a gimmick from the retail industry to increase annual sales. If REI has a successful year without Black Friday, then good for them. Other retailers should do the same.

originally posted by: NthOther

originally posted by: MystikMushroom

REI is a co-op and owned by the members (customers) and employees. It isn't run the same way a publicly traded company with shareholders is...

So consumerism is a-ok if fomented under the "right business model"?

What exactly is wrong with working a job, earning a paycheck, buying some camping gear (that will last you years and years), taking a trip to spend time in nature?

originally posted by: Ceeker63
IMO I think it is a wonderful concept. There is no real reason for a Black Friday. It is all a gimmick from the retail industry to increase annual sales. If REI has a successful year without Black Friday, then good for them. Other retailers should do the same.

Yup, got my harness, shoes and ATC from them. To bad they're still brand new sitting in my closet corner...

Rock gyms are expensive, and it's ice/snow 9 months out of the year her in Alaska...

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

They were only worn once it says. They were washed and there were no holes, rips, loose fibers, or broken zippers.

Also if they weren't used for commando lunges before.....they have now.

Something tells me though the typical REI customer has nothing in common with the typical black friday shopper.

Well REI is from Seattle which is one of the most progressive cities in America, and a lot of liberals have been complaining the last few years about people having to work on holidays for consumerism.

a reply to: CB328

Seattle has the flagship store, and my city of Anchorage, AK has the 2nd largest store behind that one.

Alaska is a deep red, bleeding red state. It's a weird thing up here. People are really, really conservative on some things, but not on other things.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
Alaska is a deep red, bleeding red state. It's a weird thing up here. People are really, really conservative on some things, but not on other things.

Interesting. I always pictured Alaskans as more of 'get the eff out of my business Libertarians' which is the perception I had about people moving up there from the lower 48.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: CB328

Seattle has the flagship store, and my city of Anchorage, AK has the 2nd largest store behind that one.

Alaska is a deep red, bleeding red state. It's a weird thing up here. People are really, really conservative on some things, but not on other things.

Not too surprising, the state did elect Palin afterall, and they were happy with her until the media made her look like an idiot.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Alaska was a bright blue, Democrat strong hold for a very long time, even after statehood in 1959. It was when the oil industry came, put in the Trans-Alaska pipeline in the late 1970's that it turned deep red.

All those Texas and others from out of state moved up here, big oil companies now employed a ton of people -- Republican policies favored the oil industry's request for lax/looser permitting and tax structure.

Prior to that, Alaska was heavily dependent on the Feds for funding...and Democrats were the party to spend more up here.

It just goes to show you that the corporate interests can flip-flop an entire population when they become hands that feed.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom

Prior to that, Alaska was heavily dependent on the Feds for funding...and Democrats were the party to spend more up here.

Just out of curiosity what is the situation now, more or less dependent on Federal funding?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

It's a red state, all three electoral votes go to the Republicans no matter what.

The largest city, Anchorage has a Democrat for the mayor though. The cities are more liberal, and the outlying rural communities and villages tend to be Republican simply because they like the GOP "leave me alone" mentality.

There are some Alaska Natives who are Democrat though, as they want tighter environmental controls over the land they use for subsistance, but many of the natives are part of corporations they started when they were given seed money and land under the Native Claims Settlement Act. These corporations do all kinds of things like mine, oil field support, hospitality services (hotels), catering, IT, building maintenance...and the natives of a specific village or tribe are shareholders.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

We don't have a state income tax, and most places don't have a sales tax. The government here is fully funded by oil revenue. With oil prices being low right now, the state is looking at budget shortfalls though, and new ways to cut costs and do fancy accounting.

The people get a dividend of some of the oil revenue each year. Part of the oil revenue gets invested into a fund that pays out to all the elliglable Alaskan citizens on a yearly basis. It's currently worth around 53 billion right now. We all just got checks for $2,069 the 8th of this month.

The politicians are salivating at the opportunity to dip into it, but the people are adamant they don't. It would be political suicide to do so.

I'm not really sure how it'll all end up...