Comment by dendrite9
5 days ago
REI changed about 25 years ago and it took a while for people to notice/the changes to filter through enough. Was talking recently about similar changes with MEC in Canada with a family friend who joined MEC as member 200-250. He had a chance to be in the first ~25 members but wasn't sure they'd still exist in a year.
I think there still is value in a retail coop model but I think REI strayed from the area where it could work well. They may not have been able to run forever without changing but the way it has changed is a bit sad to see. I suspect there has to be a strong mission statement and way to hold to it for a retail coop to thrive long term. Or maybe just to keep the size small enough to avoid some of the harder questions.
> REI changed about 25 years ago
Changed how? It was always a consumer co-op, never a worker owned co-op. I joined in 1981.
Ah, I did a poor job conveying what I meant. You are correct of course. I was referring more to a change in the culture of the board and methods members could use to nominate board members.
Also to clarify we were talking about MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop) which was inspired by REI and is no longer a coop.