REI will continue to abstain from participating in Black Friday.
REI lay claim it is quitting Black Friday the way millennials quitJNCO jeansin the 90s . Permanently . in all likelihood .
REI has kept out of theBlack Friday frenzyfor the last seven age , opting to give employees the day after Thanksgiving off . It has nowannouncedthat it will annually close all of its business , including 178 memory board , distribution locations , headquarters , and call centers . It will " alternatively give its more than 16,000 employee to delight fourth dimension outdoors , " it said in an declaration . The day off will becoming an " on-going , lasting , employee welfare . "
Though REI ’s on-line storage will still be active on Black Friday , it will not start packaging sold item until the day after the shopping holiday . It also offers sale at other points throughout the year .
Courtesy of REI
REI first shed Black Friday in 2015 and has made the announcements on an annual footing . The divergence this year is it is skipping the yearly announcement to instead announce the " lasting " goal to Black Friday at its store .
When REI first bucked the Black Friday trend , it was a big declaration . The vast bulk of retailers have long offered pregnant sales and sometimes even go hours for the shopping holiday , pulling employees into stores extra early the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. after Thanksgiving .
" Opt Outside has always been about prioritizing the experience of our employee , choosing the benefits of meter outdoors over a day of uptake and sales , " REI CEO Eric Artz aver . " When we first introduced this drive , it was considered revolutionary for a retail brand , but we matte up it was the good thing to do for our members and employees . "
At this point , Black Friday may have decreased in import . Instead of saving the good deal of the year for Black Friday and Cyber Monday , many stores are offering big sales even originally in the year in events like Walmart ’s year - oddment vacation event orAmazon ’s Early Access Sale . however , REI wo n’t be hitch their habit of recent year to join in the Black Friday bedlam anytime presently . Though , any " everlastingly " announcement from a corporation should always be accept with a food grain of salt . " Forever " is a recollective time and the world changes fast .
h / tCNN
