REI to employees and customers: get out and enjoy the great outdoors instead of shopping on "Black Friday"

REI to employees and customers: get out and enjoy the great outdoors instead of shopping on "Black Friday"

In its email Monday, the Seattle-based retailer said it wants its employees and the wider public to use Black Friday as an opportunity to discover nature’s restorative power. “While the rest of the world is fighting it out in the aisles, we hope to see you in the great outdoors.”

And sales figures haven’t exactly indicated that more Thanksgiving and Black Friday hours are worth inciting such ill will. According to the National Retail Federation, last year retail sales fell 11% over the key four-day Thanksgiving-Black Friday shopping weekend, in part, because stores had offered deals even earlier in November.

Not only will REI workers get to enjoy Thanksgiving day with their families and friends, the outdoor retailer announced all stores will remain closed on Black Friday as well, with full pay for employees: What a concept! There can be little doubt that online sales have hurt special retail events like "Black Friday." And recent data shows the stores see less benefit from being open at all: