REI, perhaps the most widely known shop concentrated on the outdoors, has actually finished a remarkable cut in its labor force. The company ended last week by laying off 357 employees.
Many workers let go worked at the company’s head office, with another hundred operating in warehouse.
“While this work was mainly driven by monetary need, we took a tactical approach to assessing team structures versus organization needs to ensure consistency throughout the company as leaders made decisions about which roles to eliminate,” composed REI CEO Eric Artz. “While lots of choices were based on work that no longer exists, we also focused on lowering duplicative work, layers and hierarchy to develop more effective and linked groups.”
The company says the cuts become part of a continued decline in outside retail, much of which ballooned around the pandemic when a record number of people were driven to the outdoors.
“Outdoor specialized retail has experienced four quarters of decrease– and that pattern has actually been getting worse,” the company’s CEO composed. “While we were able to surpass this pattern for much of the in 2015, it caught up to us in Q4, and we now anticipate conditions to remain extremely challenging throughout 2024.”
In spite of the companywide REI layoffs, business did announce plans for 10 new shops around the U.S. late in 2015. This announcement does not appear to have actually affected those plans.
The brand-new shops will remain in:
- Beavercreek, Ohio
- Beaverton, Oregon
- Glendale, Arizona
- Ithaca, New York City
- Rancho Mirage, California
- Albany, New York City
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
REI isn’t the only company to announce layoffs so far this year. Popular apparel brand Cotopaxi let simply under 2 lots people go earlier this month.
REI, arguably the most popular store concentrated on the outdoors, has actually announced layoffs of 357 employees due to sales.