REI — Local services in Denver

REI’s Denver Flagship Platt Street store is ALWAYS THE ONLY place where one can find a huge selection of very high quality outdoor items and receive superior customer assistance.

Yesterday, Sunday June 11,2023, I had to unexpectedly return my new Salomon shoes to REI’s Denver Flagship store. I had ordered these shoes with the superb expertise of TATUM NOODLE HEAD, but unfortunately these wonderful Salomon shoes just did not fit my very naughty impossible to fit feet!

I am very grateful that GEOFFREY, on REI’s Front Line staff, processed this return very quickly and was very efficient, kind and a pleasure to talk to.

Also on Sunday June 11,2023, AUDREY, on REI’s Order Pickup staff, made it so easy and pleasant for me to receive the shirt I’d ordered on REI’s website.

Even though REI’s Denver Flagship store was very crowded yesterday Sunday May 11, GEOFFREY and AUDREY were always extremely kind, very patient and helpful to all of the many customers who had waited in line.

On Wednesday June 7, my friend and I greatly appreciated the OUTSTANDING advice and EXCELLENT customer support we received from TATUM NOODLE HEAD (yes, that’s TATUM’s cute nickname!), DANNY GARZA and WILL CESPEDES.

TATUM, DANNY and WILL were all incredibly knowledgeable about their respective REI product areas and were so happy to help us.

But TATUM exceeded REI’s very high customer service standards by very patiently spending so much time with me searching for the exact pair of Salomon shoes that would fit my very naughty hard to fit feet!

TATUM “NOODLE HEAD” clearly knew so much about REI’s many different types of boots and shoes, and she was a veritable “walking encyclopedia” concerning Salomon’a walking shoes. I could not have found my wonderful new Salomon shoes without TATUM’S expertise, patience...

I appreciate the convenient location of this REI. Since I live so close and made an e-bike purchase from them, I’ve been dropping in more regularly. Because of the frequency, I’ve had plenty of less than ideal experiences. A lot of the problems I’ve faced came down to their technology. Their digital shopping experience is so clunky. Just today, when I went in to pick up an item, the person in front of me appeared to have been waiting a long time for their item, and it turned out that there was some error on REI’s end that needed not one but two employees to resolve. A lot of the exchanges that I’ve heard between the employees were variations of “oh you can’t input it this way, you have to do it this specific way” or “do you know how to input that?” This enforces my personal belief that the technology that these employees have to use is so overly complicated that it causes so much unnecessary wait time due to human error. For myself too, picking up an online order was incredibly annoying because I ran into a payment issue. This was due to REI slow shipping window and their card reauthorization policy. It’d be nice if I could’ve just faced one of the two problems. The in-store layout also leaves little to be desired. If you need to lug your heavy e-bike into the store for whatever reason, it’s a wait for the door to open when the accessibility button is pressed. Order pickup and customer service are on the opposite sides of the store, so if you were to pick up something and realize it wasn’t a good fit, you have to go to the front of the store because the pickup side employees don’t have the “authorize code” to initiate a return. Overall, I don’t know how the employees here do it. I’d have a perpetual migraine if I have to deal with these inefficiencies...

This is one of the coolest shops in Denver and a must-visit for anyone interested in outdoor activities. It's a beautiful building, always clean and well-stocked, and the free 90 minute parking means I can always easily find a parking spot unlike many other destinations around Denver.

The staff is always knowledgeable, friendly and helpful, even though you might have a bit of a wait behind the other folks being helped. I'm very familiar from my own work experience that good service from people who are actually interested in helping takes time, and often means being a little patient so other people can get the service they deserve.

Big thanks to all the folks in the snow sports section, especially Garrett, who was able to help me with boots and bindings late in the day during the busy season, and give me some great advice from personal experience about what I would be happy with.

I figured business would be a little slower late in the day at this time of year, but they didn't hold that against me and were still able to help me out.

I've been coming here ever since I was a kid, and it has firmly cemented REI in my mind as the best general outdoor sports shop, especially this location. It's still valuable to visit smaller businesses that specialize in certain areas, but the location of this shop makes that super easy, since there are tons of local outdoor sports business around Denver.

I'm so thankful this shop exists, and I really appreciate the way REI runs their business. I always feel welcome and valued as a customer, and like their goal is to provide value to their customers rather than maximizing my value to them as a customer. It's rare to find that these days, and this is one of those diamonds...