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After nearly 40 years, REI will eliminate its Experiences department effective this week, the company said today.
The department formerly provided everything from outdoor education classes in subjects like navigation and snowshoeing to multi-day adventure trips. In an email sent to staff, REI’s president and CEO, Eric Artz, wrote that the company attempted multiple iterations of the program in an attempt to make it turn a profit before deciding to shut it down and focus on its core retail business.
“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,” Artz wrote. “Every path to profitability we explored would have required us to invest more time, effort and focus away from parts of the business that reach significantly more customers, drive more positive financial outcomes, and have greater impact on our mission to get people outside.”
The closure of the department will eliminate 180 full-time employees and 248 part-time guides from the company, beginning this week. A guide who lost his job in the layoffs told Backpacker that the company’s CEO was “very cut and dry” while announcing the reductions on a video call, A follow up with his local Bay Area division, in contrast, was extremely emotional.
“They were all distraught and crying on the call,” said the guide, who spoke with Backpacker on condition of anonymity.
Even as REI was evaluating cutting the experience program, the company opened a new Bay Area location and added trips to its programming. The guide said that the California region’s experiences program appeared to be exhibiting growth prior to the announcement.
“How did we get here?” he asked. “How did none of us know that we were this dire?”
The outdoor industry accounts for 5 million of the nation’s jobs and 3.1 percent of its workforce. Although outdoor recreation contributes to a $1.3 trillion industry, some businesses are struggling to stay competitive. In 2023, REI reported a net loss of $311 million as well as a 2.4 percent drop in revenue, sparking concerns amongst new employees that their future with the brand might be cut short. And 2023 was the second year in a row that the company reported large losses.
Artz explained that the decision to cut the program was purely financial.
“Experiences served 40,000 customers in 2024—less than 0.4% of all co-op customers—and costs significantly more to run than it brings in,” Artz wrote. While the company continues to struggle with profit, the Experiences program has been a strain on the company’s ledgers. “Even at our peak in 2019—our best year for Experiences ever—we did not generate a profit,” he continued.
Artz added that while the company “continue[s] to believe there is a role for REI in outdoor education and expertise,” it needed to reevaluate how it delivered that to customers.
Employees who lost their jobs with the Experiences program’s closure will receive some type of severance, including salary through March 9 and benefits through end of March for full-time employees and benefits through January for part-time employees.
Customers who have already booked trips with REI will receive refunds. The company will begin communicating with affected travelers on Thursday.
From 2025