Ethical Shopping: REI’s Closing and Why It Matters

Outdoor retailer REI announced that it will stay locked up and give its employees a paid holiday on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year that has notoriously gotten out of hand in the past decade, leading to all-night shopping sprees and even injuries and death from people fighting for sales. What’s more – REI won’t even offer any special deals that day as a means to encourage their fans and customers to go outside, spend time with family, enjoy life.

Why are we talking about this on the justice blog? Well this very idea is what ultimately led to JW’s projects in Kenya, which is a major part of why our little blog here even exists! The original Advent Conspiracy – an effort to spend less money and spend more time in community at the holidays – led to the raising of thousands of dollars to build those first few deep water boreholes in Pokot.

Since it’s been a few years since our last official Advent Conspiracy, this is a timely reminder from a good company (who happens to do good work environmentally and socially, too!). Too bad we only have one of their stores in KC to not go to on Black Friday.

Read about REI’s Black Friday decision >

We’re doing a series on ethical buying here on the blog in November – click here to see all posts on the topic!