BY: JESSICA BEUKER
REI, the Seattle-based outdoor recreation and sporting goods retailer announced on October 27th that they will close for Black Friday this year. Not only that, but they will also be paying their 12,000 employees to go outside and enjoy their day off.
REI is encouraging other companies to do the same, and join them in a stand against consumer madness.
Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States and for years it has been a staple of American life. Regarded often as the start of the Christmas shopping season, retailers open their stores extra early and offer a ton of promotional sales.
Americans spend a day giving thanks for everything they have, and then go out the very next day to bludgeon the shit out of strangers for a discount on a flat screen.
I’m all for a good sale, but the entire day is barbaric and animalistic. According to Ranker, in 2008, 2,000 anxious and aggressive customers ambushed a Long Island Wal-Mart five minutes before it opened. They tore the door off its hinges and trampled several employees; despite the Red Rover-esque chain workers had made to slow down the crowds. One man, a 34-year-old employee, was literally trampled to death. It was at this same location that an eight-month pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage.
On that same day, two women got into a bloody fistfight across the city at Toys R Us. This prompted their husbands to pull out handguns and start shooting at each other. Both men ended up dying in the shootout, and their children were there to witness the whole event.
Year after year, the injury – and even death – numbers roll in, yet this day is still regarded as the holy grail of shopping.
A few businesses have argued that it is crazy for a company to close up shop on the busiest day of the entire shopping year. Not to mention, that REI isn’t just closing, they are paying 12,000 employees to play hooky. But considering REI made over $2 billion in sales in 2014 alone, they’ll likely be okay.
So instead they are focusing on more important things – like spending time outside.
Jerry Stritzke, president and CEO of the company, explained to Forbes that the move aligns with their mission statement that “being outside makes our lives better.”
He added: “We’re a different kind of company—and while the rest of the world is fighting it out in the aisles, we’ll be spending our day a little differently. We’re choosing to opt outside, and want you to come with us.”
