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Comment by ZanyProgrammer | Hacker News Reader

I'm happy and hope it starts a trend, but REI doesn't seem like the kind of store that gets a ton of traffic on Black Friday. I'm sure they'll lose some business (hopefully offset by goodwill) but they don't seem like the typical retailer that really looks forward to Black Friday.

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I'm curious why you would think that. REI stocks many things for outdoor recreation for the Winter season, including skis, snowboards, snowshoes, jacket of all varieties, wool socks, ice climbing gear/mountaineering gear in general... boots! - the list goes on.

The REI near me has a full-service bike shop and ski/snowboard tuning area. Then there's the people that need gear for taking off the winter going to South America.

Or, you're just stuck indoors, rockclimbing, which has it's own set of accessories, including rock shoes, harnesses, ropes, chalk, etc, etc, etc.

Yeah, REI does some business around this year, believe me.

"Doing business this time of year" is not the same as "has well-known huge annual sales events on one specific day during this time of year." Like the grandparent post, REI wasn't what came to mind when I thought of stores on Black Friday; instead I think Walmart, Best Buy, Sears, etc.

It's true, they do not have one huge annual sale. They have huge seasonal sales: Labor Day, 4th of July, Winter Holidays - I went in there a few weeks ago, and got a $20 gift card just because I spent $100. It's kind of nuts.

Then there's the annual dividend, which is around 10% of your total purchases back to you.

Glad they're taking the day off.

From what I remember, the local REI-located very close to Frys-never got insane levels of Black Friday traffic. Also several years ago went to a diff REI on Black Friday, wasn't overwhelmed.

REI is not a dicount retailer. So high volume at dirt cheap prices is not their business pLan, like say a Walmart.

Trust me they do. At my local store (relatively small compared to other cities) there are people lined up around the street.

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