Well, this is new

[CPA]

REI is closing all of their stores on Black Friday and paying their employees.

That's kind of cool, but I would prefer if stores just didn't open on Thanksgiving. baby steps...

 

[Kaido]

I used to be against it (stores opening Thursday), but it gives us something to do after we wake up from our post-food coma on turkey day. Ultimately it's kind of the nature of the job (i.e. working retail), much the same that I can get called into work at 2am in the morning with my IT job. It stinks, but it's a living!

 

[olds]

I used to be against it (stores opening Thursday), but it gives us something to do after we wake up from our post-food coma on turkey day. Ultimately it's kind of the nature of the job (i.e. working retail), much the same that I can get called into work at 2am in the morning with my IT job. It stinks, but it's a living!

Meh. I don't eat much on Thanksgiving. Have to save room for the alcohol.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Wow. This is awesome. :thumbsup:

 

[FeuerFrei]

No point being closed on BF, it's not a holiday. No one outside of REI cares.

 

[slag]

In lieu of shopping on BF, we sit in the hot tub before the sun comes up, clean off and then go make eggs benedict and play video games. Its much more relaxing and fun.

 

[deadlyapp]

No point being closed on BF, it's not a holiday. No one outside of REI cares.

There's been more consumer backlash over the years towards retailers that decide their employees aren't humans and make them come in at 4am (or earlier) to start the black friday rush. They're hoping that the people who shop at REI see this compassion and are more willing to spend their money there, which I suspect might actually happen, seeing the clientele that shop at REI.

I personally applaud REI for doing this as I worked retail for many years and saw the pain and struggle from anyone who worked the morning shifts. There is nothing shittier than having to cut your thanksgiving short because you need to be up in several hours. I'll be very interested to see if this affects their Q4 sales, but I suspect it won't, they may even see an uptick.

 

[waggy]

I don't care if they are open or close black friday. I do get pissed at stores that force people to come in on Thanksgiving.

 

[LucJoe]

This is old stuff.

The CEO did an AMA last week and got hammered with a question about their cutthroat membership pushing tactics. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3scce7/i_am_jerry_stritzke_ceo_of_rei_and_were_closing/

 

[clamum]

In lieu of shopping on BF, we sit in the hot tub before the sun comes up, clean off and then go make eggs benedict and play video games. Its much more relaxing and fun.

I can only hope to find a girl as cool as that. :thumbsup:

As for REI, good for them for giving the employees a break. :thumbsup: People get way too bent outta shape over this Black Friday bullshit.

 

[PricklyPete]

I don't think this was a huge gamble for REI (given the people who shop there), but I still applaud them. The flagship store here in Denver is ridiculously awesome.

 

[Jeff7]

For the three other people who didn't know...

 

[Ham n' Eggs]

If I worked retail I would understand that working more on the hoildays was to be expected. If I didn't like that, I wouldn't work in retail.

 

[Eli]

If I worked retail I would understand that working more on the hoildays was to be expected. If I didn't like that, I wouldn't work in retail.

Kinda this.... I mean, I do sympathize to an extent... But if people are willing to get up at 3am and go shopping at stores, then said stores need to have employees who are willing to get up at 3am to serve said customers.

Shrug. :\

How about we make people want to go to work by giving them a living wage? And then give time and a half for exceptional calls like the above?

It's not the fact that companies are "making" employees go to work at "inappropriate" times. It's a pretty normal and shitty thing for someone to get scheduled to close.. and then open, for example.

We just all know working retail already sucks, and somehow having to work on/after a Holiday pushes it over the edge.

I'm not really trying to defend the practice, just give some perspective. I think it's likely the hate is a little misplaced.

 

[BurnItDwn]

In lieu of shopping on BF, we sit in the hot tub before the sun comes up, clean off and then go make eggs benedict and play video games. Its much more relaxing and fun.

Eggs benedict, mmmmmm!!!!!!!

 

[slag]

I can only hope to find a girl as cool as that. :thumbsup:

As for REI, good for them for giving the employees a break. :thumbsup: People get way too bent outta shape over this Black Friday bullshit.

I should probably clarify.

The past couple years, my its only been my youngest son and I in the hot tub just enjoying our white privilege and life in general because my wife has gone shopping. Then we go in and I make breakfast with real canadian (Canadien?) bacon, poached eggs, and english muffins with hollandaise sauce. Then I clean up the dishes, do some housework, and play games. Wife arrives home mid to late morning, crashes until mid afternoon, then gets up and joins the family.

However..

This year we aren't getting together until the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so Thursday we will thaw out some of the turkey I'm smoking this weekend, make some GB casserole, and clean, Friday, more cleaning after the hot tub and Eggs Benedict breakfast, and then Saturday we are having approximately 30 people over. Sunday will be a day of gaming and possibly putting up lights.

 

[purbeast0]

they aren't closing it for black friday, they are closing it in celebration of my birthday. i'm a special snowflake.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The honest truth is Black Friday has been ruined from over-exposure.

Black Friday was never about deals at first. It was simply the first day of the Christmas shopping season, aka the season when people buy crap they don't need that keeps the economy running.

Retailers then trained us that this one magical Friday was the best day of the year to get a deal, but over time that became a problem because Black Friday was never intended to be "the day to do all your Christmas shopping." It was intended to be the grease that got the gears going on the Christmas shopping season and put people in that mode. The intent of the sales were to build a momentum so people kept coming the weeks after Black Friday, but the message consumers have taken from years of hype is either you buy what you want on Black Friday or you aren't getting a deal. So nowadays there is a retailer lull after Black Friday because people buy whatever they can on Black Friday (even stuff not on a BF sale) because there is an assumption that everything is as cheap as it will get (even if that is not true).

Now retailers have to undo the monster that is Black Friday in order to keep people shopping before and after that day like intended. Some are just trying to stretch the Black Friday mood- that is where "Cyber Monday" came from and where Newegg gets ideas like "Black November." The problem with this tactic is even the dumbest person knows that if there is a sale every day that means there is no sale, so the stretching of the shopping hype beyond Friday is a tall order.

So I expect more of this outright de-emphasizing of Black Friday to happen. Soon other stores will figure out the old times when people just bought their presents the entire month before Christmas at full price is better than manage crowds, selling negative margin items, and dealing with crazy overtime overhead. One danger though is that consumers are SO programed to look forward to Black Friday the entire year that if the event goes away maybe OVERALL consumption goes down because then people aren't buying stuff they don't need just because it's on sale.

For a decade I have been a fan of Black Friday because I love a good deal, but the last couple of years I realized that a bunch of Slickdeals notifications setup properly will get you Black Friday prices through the entire year if you can be patient with buying stuff. The really hot deals at stores on BF are either for low-quality items (like Black Friday only models with features missing) or go so quickly that unless you wait in line at 3am you are going to miss it. So I will stay home this year too.

 

[Griffinhart]

Just an observation about stores being open on Thanksgiving. Why do people rant about retailers opening on Thanksgiving, but think nothing of the millions of other jobs where people are working that day? Bars, restaurants, movie theaters... Watching Football is a very popular activity, do the people that work at the stadiums or support the TV stations not deserve a day off with their families too? That is the primary complaint made when a retailer opens on Thanksgiving. Why do we vilify retailers yet think nothing of Football, Going to a bar or Restaurant, or catching a movie later?