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REI has announced they will no longer purchase and sell items from companies that also sell firearms or firearms accessories. Here is my message to REI:
I have been an REI member since the 1960s. I am also a Life Member of the NRA. REI's corporate decision to stand against the Second Amendment has convinced me to end my relationship with REI. I haven't purchased very many products from REI in the last few years due to poor quality, excessively high prices (too high to justify the dividend) and lack of brick and mortar stores in my area. Moving the Portland store from Jantzen Beach to a high crime area in Portland, or the store in Clackamas, are not viable options for me to shop. I'm 71 years old, a veteran and I am completely disgusted with businesses that infuse their left-wing politics into what should be a simple buying activity. You likely won't miss me as a customer and I certainly won't miss REI. BTW, I'm still an active outdoorsman and I purchase camping, hiking and hunting gear every year.
Do you have any idea about how many hunters who buy thousands of dollars worth of outdoor items every year will also stop shopping at REI due to your self righteous, anti-gun rights bigotry?
 
Thank you for posting that. I've written them telling them what I think. I encourage others to do the same. They were a great store but now they have gone overboard.
 
I have.

I am a member.

REI has always been somewhat anti-gun and anti-hunting, so this not anything that is really new. They are just pandering to their main customers.

They also usually charge a premium so if I can find what I want elsewhere I go elsewhere - e.g., Keen has several stores around here, as does Columbia. Much of what REI sells I can buy online elsewhere from the manufacturer or Amazon.

So it isn't a big deal to me.

I generally do not boycott businesses that profess to be anti-gun unless they are gun related businesses - like Dicks (or in the past, Ruger).

REI wouldn't notice my not going there - I have not been in an REI in years.
 
I have.

I am a member.

REI has always been somewhat anti-gun and anti-hunting, so this not anything that is really new. They are just pandering to their main customers.

They also usually charge a premium so if I can find what I want elsewhere I go elsewhere - e.g., Keen has several stores around here, as does Columbia. Much of what REI sells I can buy online elsewhere from the manufacturer or Amazon.

So it isn't a big deal to me.

I generally do not boycott businesses that profess to be anti-gun unless they are gun related businesses - like Dicks (or in the past, Ruger).

REI wouldn't notice my not going there - I have not been in an REI in years.

I haven't bought too much stuff from REI in the last few years, but if enough members, as well as customers, contact REI and express their disapproval of this policy they might cha.... oh, what am I saying. They don't care unless you're a pot-smoking, birkenstock wearing, tree-hugging hipster with hairy legs. Same for the males.
 
I haven't bought too much stuff from REI in the last few years, but if enough members, as well as customers, contact REI and express their disapproval of this policy they might cha.... oh, what am I saying. They don't care unless you're a pot-smoking, birkenstock wearing, tree-hugging hipster with hairy legs. Same for the males.

As I stated, this is not really new for them. If you have paid attention over the years, you would not see any hunting gear there and very little fishing gear and you would know that REI does mostly cater to "tree huggers" (I happen to be one, of sorts, but then I own and live on 20 acres of timber unlike most of the rest of REI members, and I am not above harvesting it either when it makes sense).
 
As I stated, this is not really new for them. If you have paid attention over the years, you would not see any hunting gear there and very little fishing gear and you would know that REI does mostly cater to "tree huggers" (I happen to be one, of sorts, but then I own and live on 20 acres of timber unlike most of the rest of REI members, and I am not above harvesting it either when it makes sense).

Most REI members dont own land. They live in their urban jungles and legislate what everyone else can do with THEIR land.
 
I'm not really a wordsmith, but I gave them this:

I am most certain that you will one (1) ignore this email and promptly delete it, and (2) have the opinion my patronage at REI is not really all that important.

However, I will still voice my opinion that your virtue signalling about firearms is going to cost you. The web is already buzzing about your comments linked below.
Please note my family and I will no longer shop at REI Portland, Clackamas, Bend or the store over in the Beaverton area...or anywhere else. Sorry, but virtue signally is a sickening game and will not be tolerated by many of us with plenty of disposable income.

Best regards,
XXXXXXX

REI statement on relationship with Vista Outdoor | REI Newsroom

Link to their contact form:
Support Home Page
 
I've got some fond memories of REI gear circa 1971, making a couple day trip from PDX to SeattleLand.....in the days I actually enjoyed the abysmal traffic etc. The unusual adaptation to the available store floor space, the various departments where the sales people actually knew a LOT about the product & the art of outdoorsy stuff; the used boot department alone was worth the trek.

Shouldda seen it coming, for decades everything pointed away from 'rugged outdoorsy type' to just another type of boutique. And I refuse to put up with the malarky about NRA.
 
Agreed.

Do you really think that REI, which is their club, really cares what we think?

I agree. REI most likely doesn't care much about any but the urban cliff dwellers that make up the majority of their sales. However, if enough gun owners express their opinions about this policy, to the extent that REI thinks sales will be affected negatively, as a responsible business they would be obliged to reconsider. The bottom line is still the ruler they must bow down to, even if they have to set their personal agenda aside. I don't hold out much hope this will really happen, but I refuse to be silent even if it doesn't matter to them.
 

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