REI Experiences Division Closing

Recreation Equipment Incorporated, the member-run, outdoor adventure retail co-op, closed the REI Experiences division this January. REI announced the decision to close this business on Jan. 8, and more than 400 staff were affected, primarily in the Bay Area, Seattle and Colorado. None of the REI staff at the Old Mill District location were associated with the layoffs, although 24 of the 428 staff laid off were from Oregon.

In a press release from the co-op, CEO and president Eric Artz said, “Earlier this morning we shared with our Experiences team that after a thorough review and careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to exit the Experiences business altogether, effective this week.”

The Experiences division offered adventure-style travel and day tours, as well as classes on a variety of subjects from snowshoeing to international travel. REI Experiences had been in business for over 40 years.

“The reality is a thriving co-op requires a sustainable economic model that is capable of investing at the appropriate level to fully fund our most critical strategic ambitions,” noted Artz in his message to staff and consumers on the company’s website. “We have gone through many iterations and explored multiple options to keep this business up and running and to preserve jobs. We’ve held out as long as possible, but the fact remains that Experiences is an unprofitable business for the co-op, and we must adjust course.”

“When we look at the all-up costs of running this business, including costs like marketing and technology, we are losing millions of dollars every year and subsidizing Experiences with profits from other parts of the business. Even at our peak in 2019 — our best year for Experiences ever — we did not generate a profit,” Artiz said in his message.

The Experiences business served around 40,000 people in 2024, a small percentage of the co-op’s 24 million customers. According to Artiz, the Experiences program connected with about a million customers over its 40-year run. Customers with programs slated to begin after Jan. 15 received full refunds for those reservations.

Though REI will discontinue many of its contracts with travel industry partners that participated in programs, the company is investigating partnerships with other organizations to continue offering tours and programs. The National Outdoor Leadership School, better known as NOLS, is one of the companies mentioned in that search.

REI has been a member-owned co-op since 1938 and will continue to offer in-store events and workshops.

This article appears in The Source Weekly January 30, 2025.