Pros
Good people in stores that are motivated about the outdoors Fun Products to Sell Helping People Live Healthy Lifestyles Community Outreach Good product guarantee There is a lot of passion for the outdoors in the stores, especially in the mountain and desert stores. Employees encouraged to participate in outdoor activities and get to learn from each other.
Cons
Evolved to a big corporation feel. A former CEO changed REI’s mission and values from what had been a real story of love and history for the mountains and wild places to something less authentic. REI used to share its profits generously with employees, the community and its member-owners but cut this dramatically as the company expanded, losing sight of its history and strong mission. Now REI struggles to remain profitable and had to sell off its new corporate campus it couldn’t afford. . REI has focused on some political issues along the way that were not related to the outdoors specifically. This turned a lot of former customers into non-supporters and caused complaints in the stores. REI had a slogan when they opened the Washington DC store, “Right Side, Left Side, United Outside”. Corporate leadership lost their way on this uniting principle to the damage of its business .