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My friends, welcome to this episode of the Outdoor Gear Review. I hope you all are doing well. Over the last couple of years here on this channel, we have been following the fall of the outdoor company known as REI. Just in case you're not familiar with REI, that is one of the largest outdoor retailers in the United States. They are not the largest, but certainly are one of the biggest. Dick's Sporting Goods is substantially larger than REI, and so is Academy Sports. While the companies that I just mentioned are performing financially ex ceptionally well, REI is not, and they haven't been for a long time. Going back to 2020 in the pandemic, things turned negative as far
as profits go for REI, where the company lost 34 and 1/2 million dollars. In the following year of 2021, the company made a profit, a profit of 97.7 million dollars. That would be the last time going forward that REI would make a profit. In 2022, the company lost 165 million dollars. In 2023, the company lost 3 111 million dollars. 2024 was another bad year for the company where they lost 156 million dollars, which takes us to REI's most recent financial disclosure which was recently released. Has the company been able to turn things around? We'll talk about that in just a moment. I think it's important to realize that when it comes to REI, over the last 7 years, they have only turned a profit
twice. And because of that, over the last 7 years, the company has made a ton of changes. In fact, they've been working quite hard to turn things around. For example, in 2023, the company began to restructure. They also began laying off employees. The exact number of those who were laid off is not clear. I've seen reports claim as few as 167 employees, and I've seen reports claim as many as 275. The following year of 2024, the company continued with their restructuring program. At the same time, they implemented Oh boy, here come the fighter jets.
Too far back there. In the following year of 2024, the company continued with their restructuring program. At the same time, they began cutting costs. Additionally, they laid off 375 more employees. Then, in 2025, the company continued making changes to their business the structuring, and they decided to go ahead and close some stores. Some of the big changes that the company made including shutting down the experience program, which is a sort of guided trip sort of service that they offered, which they offered for over 40 years. With the shutting down of the experience program, that cut 400 jobs from REI's payroll. Additionally, they
shut down a campground which they ran, and the company will be closing three stores this year. How many jobs that will affect, I do not know. Before we touch upon the 2025 numbers, we need to talk about why REI is in this situation briefly. In a nutshell, around the time of the pandemic, REI did something that other outdoor retailers did not. They really tailored their business towards the elite, right? To those with a ton of money in their pockets. I'm sure you all remember back during the pandemic, a lot of people were getting out backpacking and camping, and they were traveling across the country in their vans and whatnot. In other words, the outdoor industry was doing incredibly well.
Plain and simple, the company became greedy. You have to consider there were a lot of people who were not working during that time, but yet REI was really focusing their business on that top 1%. And it hurt them dearly. It hurt them dearly not only through COVID, but all the way up until now. If you want to know more about this, please check out the previous episodes that I've done concerning REI and their financial problems. As I have gone over not only this point, but the other reasons why this company is not doing well, including the company's own political stumbles, them striking out against the Second Amendment, and so on. With that said, let's focus on 2025 and their most
recent financial disclosure, because things are quite interesting. No, the company was not able to turn a profit in 2025, but things are beginning to turn around for the company, or at least there's a potential for a turnaround. In fact, this is quite complicated, and the truth is there's a lot working against REI at the moment, and also going forward. For 2025, the company lost 54.3 million dollars. And yes, that is a lot of money, but as I mentioned, things are beginning to look a little bit better for the company, and that's because in the last two quarters of 2025, the company was able to turn a profit. It wasn't enough to get them in the positive, but it's certainly a good start. The reason why the company had
two profitable quarters is because of the restructuring that the company has done. You have to remember that REI has been cutting costs in all sorts of ways. They've restructured the company, they laid off hundreds and hundreds of employees, they shuttered the experience program, they closed their campground, and this year they're closing three stores, in addition to cutting wages, cutting benefits, cutting vacation time, and they've made reductions to retirement contributions. With all of these changes, the company had two profitable quarters, and this may sound good, even though there's a whole lot of bad mixed in there.
But, things are not as simple as they appear. The money that REI did make in 2025 with those two profitable quarters comes from the cuts that they've made, not from an increase of sales. And this, my friends, presents a big problem for REI. Another big problem that the company is facing currently, and has been facing for a while now, is the REI union. Over the years, countless REI stores have unionized, And since that point in time, there have been non-stop contract negotiations. Unfortunately, no agreements have been made. In fact, in 2026, this year, REI stated that they had come to an impasse and that negotiations were on hold. At the same time, the company made further cuts to
wages, benefits, and so on. The union aspect that REI is dealing with is going to play a major role in whether or not this company is profitable. Whether or not this company is going to survive. This is a complex topic that has numerous avenues, avenues that we're not going to explore in this episode. I will say this, when a company is performing exceptionally well like Microsoft for an example, a union can certainly benefit the employees. But when a company is suffering financially like REI is, a union could be absolutely destructive. A good example of that has already taken place with REI this year alone. On May 15th to the 25th, REI is having the
biggest sale of the year. But get this, the union has organized a nationwide boycott of REI during this big sale. And that's not just for employees, but for customers, too. This could be extremely devastating for REI. Think of this the same as kicking someone when they're down. Already, REI is in bad shape. They have lost a ton of money over the years, and now this union wants the company to suffer even more. In this case, what the union wants from REI doesn't go hand-in-hand with a company that has been losing tons and tons of money. Again, everyone, this is a very complex topic, and that's obvious when you speak to employees of REI. I've spoken to individuals on both sides of the aisle,
so to speak. Those who are for the union and those who are against it, and both make valid arguments. One states that the union is going to fight for them so they can make more money, have more benefits, and so on. The other side argues that while some will be making more money, that additional pay will cause job loss, limited growth to the company, limited growth at a time where REI is struggling. Ultimately, when it comes to this company, REI, they have some big hurdles to face. And it will be interesting to see how they handle these hurdles. Are they going to be able to make a profit? Are they going to turn things around? Or is this really the beginning of the end of REI? Since I've
begun doing news stories concerning REI's fall, their financial issues, and so on, I've said one thing directly to this company, REI, you need to fix your public image. Over the years, the company has set themselves up to be for a certain political party, for a certain group who has a lot of money to spend, instead of a company that's there for everyone. REI is known as the outdoor retailer where everything is going to cost you an arm and a leg. That was the perception during COVID, and that continues on to this day. During COVID, they completely misread the market, and they've been suffering because of it. And unfortunately, they really haven't turned things around even in 2026. And I
have an example of that for you. A few days ago, I was waking up one morning, I was drinking some coffee, and I was scrolling the news headlines, and I came across an ad for REI. The ad stated, "No zips, no limits, inclusive equipment designed for everyone so we can all do what we love." This caught my attention, and I was curious, what exactly is inclusive equipment? I could guess, I can make some assumptions based upon the advertisement, but I wanted to see exactly what they were talking about. I clicked on the ad, it took me over to REI's website, and it listed off a ton of North Face products, with the first one being a tent that cost $785.
I started scrolling and not once did I see exactly what they were talking about. I saw nothing that didn't have any zippers or that would be good for someone with a disability, which I'm assuming is what the ad was talking about. But yet, what was presented to me was this almost $800 tent. The ad spoke to me and gave me the impression of they are inclusive as long as you have a ton of money to spend. And that's the problem with REI, and that's the image that they have. Something that REI has to learn is that people do care about where their money's going and how much things cost. You can't attack people's freedoms and at the same time, you can't dedicate your business to the 1%. Why? Because you'll end up in a
financial situation that REI is in right now. The vast majority of outdoor gear being sold right now is from budget brands, right? These budget companies are making money. They're having sales that these bigger, more expensive brands would kill for. And this is one of the reasons why other outdoor retailers are doing so well. And with that, everyone, I am done. Good luck to REI on their turnaround. It sounds like they're making some positive steps. But again, they face some big problems. With REI and what is taking place, there's a lot here that could be considered controversial, but the simple truth is this is the bed that they made. This is the bed that they're sleeping in. REI
has lost a lot of money over the years, as well as customers. And you have to consider other outdoor retailers are absolutely killing it right now. But plain and simple, REI is not. With that, feel free to share your thoughts, no matter what they are. Until next time, everyone. Take care. Strength and honor. Bye for now.
