REI plans to lay off about 275 store employees

[Bolder]

I've had an REI membership for more than 35 years! There is still great service, but they definitely don't stock the highest quality brands (or the highest quality lines within certain brands) anymore.

I do like REI house brand hiking clothes and socks. And last year I got great advice on switching to Altra shoes. We did a few REI climbing courses in the 'Gunks about 15 years ago, and came with a nice store discount on climbing hardware.

Problem with REI is everyone waits for the annual sale. You'd be a fool to spend a cent there otherwise. When you create a discount-driven culture it's hard to improve margins. IMO for long-term survival, move upscale, keep house brand as the low and midpriced option, and double down on service. But that would imply getting rid of a bunch of stores. And get out of bicycles and alpine skis, unless the margins are big.

 

[crosscountry]

IIMO for long-term survival, move upscale, keep house brand as the low and midpriced option, and double down on service. But that would imply getting rid of a bunch of stores. And get out of bicycles and alpine skis, unless the margins are big.

I'm not sure I agree.

"Move upscale": too small a volume. Besides, that's not what REI is known for. Those are different clientele too. REI will struggle to stand out.

"House brand": That's the strongest part of REI. I think they're fine where they are.

Can't say much about service, especially of bike and skis. I don't use REI for those. I work on my own bike and don't have much need for ski stuff. So yeah, if they get rid of those departments, it wouldn't impact me. So perhaps you're right. But unless I know they're losing money on those, I'd think those are good stuff to bring people into the store.

Like I said, I know REI as a camping, hiking and backpacking store. They're doing fine on those. It's the "other" stuff I found "meh".

 

[cantunamunch]

IMO for long-term survival, move upscale, keep house brand as the low and midpriced option, and double down on service. But that would imply getting rid of a bunch of stores.

Isn't that essentially what MEC tried to do?

 

[Jersey Skier]

I'm not sure I agree.

"Move upscale": too small a volume. Besides, that's not what REI is known for. Those are different clientele too. REI will struggle to stand out.

"House brand": That's the strongest part of REI. I think they're fine where they are.

Can't say much about service, especially of bike and skis. I don't use REI for those. I work on my own bike and don't have much need for ski stuff. So yeah, if they get rid of those departments, it wouldn't impact me. So perhaps you're right. But unless I know they're losing money on those, I'd think those are good stuff to bring people into the store.

Like I said, I know REI as a camping, hiking and backpacking store. They're doing fine on those. It's the "other" stuff I found "meh".

In all my years of shopping at REI, I don't think I've ever looked at or purchased one of their own brand items. Never really crossed my mind. It's always been name brands, usually because they were on sale.

 

[crosscountry]

In all my years of shopping at REI, I don't think I've ever looked at or purchased one of their own brand items. Never really crossed my mind. It's always been name brands, usually because they were on sale.

Do you camp/hike?

 

[Jersey Skier]

Do you camp/hike?

Hike recreationally. No camping in 25+ years.

 

[martyg]

In all my years of shopping at REI, I don't think I've ever looked at or purchased one of their own brand items. Never really crossed my mind. It's always been name brands, usually because they were on sale.

You are missing out. Some of the best designers / developers in the industry are at REI. They have their own, in house testing facility. Many of those employees, some of which are former Boeing engineers, have sat / currently sit, on ASTM committees to build various testing protocols for outdoor gear.

 

[Jersey Skier]

You are missing out. Some of the best designers / developers in the industry are at REI. They have their own, in house testing facility. Many of those employees, some of which are former Boeing engineers, have sat / currently sit, on ASTM committees to build various testing protocols for outdoor gear.

Who knew. I guess their marketing doesn't quite convey this info or my eyes just go to the whatever is on sale on my daily emails from them.

 

[Bolder]

You are missing out. Some of the best designers / developers in the industry are at REI. They have their own, in house testing facility. Many of those employees, some of which are former Boeing engineers, have sat / currently sit, on ASTM committees to build various testing protocols for outdoor gear.

Their house brand is pretty good -- I went to the one in Montgomery County, PA (King of Prussia) in June to buy some "name brand" hiking pants/shorts and wound up buying REI shorts and pants, as well as one pair of Kuhls...

Although REI isn't quite as amazing as Decathlon's house brand...now that is some serious price/quality ratio! I watched a documentary on their R&D process (near Grenoble IIRC) and they also hire the top engineers/designers in Europe.

So, in the end, maybe REI"s issues, if there really are any, are just connected to running too many bricks and mortar stores. They have a LOT of stock in some of those stores and maybe they have too much capital tied up in inventory.

 

[cantunamunch]

Decathlon's house brand...now that is some serious price/quality ratio! I watched a documentary on their R&D process (near Grenoble IIRC) and they also hire the top engineers/designers in Europe.

You're referring to Quechua, I think. Decathlon create house brands at whim.

We were just talking about their upscale bike brand Van Rysel, which is meant to be associated with Lille not Grenoble.

 

[teejaywhy]

In all my years of shopping at REI, I don't think I've ever looked at or purchased one of their own brand items. Never really crossed my mind. It's always been name brands, usually because they were on sale.

I have an REI puffy that I picked up on sale for $90 I think. Great quality and value. My go-to ski mid-layer.

 

[Bolder]

You're referring to Quechua, I think. Decathlon create house brands at whim.

We were just talking about their upscale bike brand Van Rysel, which is meant to be associated with Lille not Grenoble.

Decathlon has a house brand for every sport. Quechua is for hiking etc, Domyos for workout geat etc., Simond for climbing/mountaineering...

Van Rysel literally means "of Lille" in Flemish, I think, since their logo is a sort-of Flemish lion -- associations with Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix etc...it's their bike brand in general, not just upscale, although they will be a co-sponsor of the AG2R team this year. I suspect the bikes will be like those Serottas that were rebranded as "Huffys" for the old 7-11 team in the 1980s....

Anyway, Decathlon is an amazing store. We've probably spent 15,000 euros there in the past decade because we've had to outfit 2 kids here in France for their sports.