REI — Local services in New York

Open/honest take on the REI in Manhattan. I went with my wife to find several key items (pants, special hiking shoes, fitted backpack etc), and ouch, this experience was not fun. I found myself becoming very anxious (which is strange for me) over the difficulty of grabbing an employee to help answer questions. Also, it's difficult when looking over so many pants or shoes and REI doesn't ever list any info besides maybe the name of the brand and one or two bullet points of some info. It was difficult to understand the differences between products and you must ask an employee for help and to break things down for you. It sounds nice at first but when you're on a mission to get 500-1000 dollars worth of stuff, it's a nightmare. Especially as they get busier and busier.

went to the shoe department and waited for a while to finally have an available employee help me. They ended up bringing me out the wrong shoes which were 100 dollars more. Also, per other reviews, lots of sizes are always out of stock. It was hard to get an 11 shoe, it was either 11 wide or 11.5 and that doesn't fit. I told myself, "ok get the shoes on their website."

went to the backpack section after shoes, this section of the store was even worse. There are two employees helping the entire section and over 2 dozen people looking for things and needing help. Suddenly one employee disappeared and only one remained. I waited and waited to try and grab him so I could be fitted for a bag. Nothing. The poor guy was being pulled in every direction. I finally gave up and went on to find other items.

went to go grab pants and shorts, ONCE AGAIN REI is completely sold out of my size. I must have found 6-10 articles I wanted to try on and not one had 30 waist 32 leg length. Once again my next thought was, "just go to the website and buy this in your size." However, I figured I'd try them on first (per my wife's rec). Welp, there's one fitting room that has three tiny rooms and a 24/7 line. You're only allowed 3 items to try on so if you have more, guess you get to wait in line again.

Overall I left the store with nothing and was frustrated. I took photos of what I liked and will order them online. I'd honestly avoid the store if possible, order online if you can and you'll save yourself a TON of time. Plus chances are you can actually get your size and maybe even the color you want for the shoe or clothes The REI experience feels outdated after COVID. Like I love the customer service focus but when I can't even obtain simple information regarding how waterproof something is or really any info besides price and name, it defeats the purpose and becomes silly imo. I'd recommend going on a weekday if you're looking to really get what you want, learn what you need, and make an educated purchase. Weekends are too busy to have a...

REI's based out of the Northwest and they do a much better job in that region.

This location's the only one in the city, making it packed and raising expectations. You'd hope a SoHo location would function as a flagship and show the best of the brand.

It's not terribly large; they span two floors, with a moderate footprint. Why not another floor up or down? The Seattle flagship's got three floors, and a much longer footprint. This location actually wastes their bottom floor for stock. Yes, the entire thing is boxes of inventory, and apparently a lounge for employees.

Selection is limited as a result. They've got only certain sizes of certain styles in certain colors. I was looking for a Marmot Minimalist shell, alongside a Marmot inner.

The first guy I talked to in men's jackets was delightful. He explained the different components of a jacket (even though I already knew), as well as the models with their different properties. He noted the difference in water resistance between the proprietary coating on Marmot and TNF jackets, and the Gore-Tex coating. Upselling for sure, but at least he admitted that the proprietary coatings will be leaky in a rain storm. So he was great, and I continued to browse.

I was interested in the Minimalist shell I mentioned, but they didn't have my size and I wasn't sold on the style of a rain jacket anyways. I've been upping my fashion game and a Teflon coating don't help. I walked out of the store to look for a more fashionable jacket along Broadway, but came back when I felt increasingly desperate for rain protection.

This time I asked a staff member (different guy this time) for my size. I was looking for a small to try on, since the medium had such long sleeves. He left me waiting for at least five minutes. It doesn't take that long to find stock in a wall-managed store. He meandered up the stairs and told me without infection that they didn't have it. This is NYC, and they need to speed it up.

I needed to catch a train so I hopped out. Not planning to come back here for jackets. I'll use an umbrella and stay fashionable, like the rest...

In general I'm a fan of REI. Good customer service and not pushy. Overall good vibes.

My three stars rating is based on 3 main criteria: sustainability, labor practices, and selection of barefoot/minimalist footwear.

Sustainability: I think the whole industry needs to move even more in the direction of responsibly-produced 100% natural and/or truly eco-friendly and biodegradable fibers like hemp, linen, lyocell, wool, silk (including plant-based and ahimsa silks), and many other little-known fibers like chiengora and banana fiber. This REI does have some wool and hemp/cotton blend clothes. But like almost all outdoor gear stores, the selection of technical gear is dominated by petroleum-based synthetics, and most of the other stuff is cotton, which generally isn't as good for performance or for the environment, or recycled synthetics or synthetic-natural blends. Sometimes synthetics are the only option, like when you need something super lightweight, waterproof, and/or strong, but for most use cases, natural/lyocell does fine. Synthetics require petroleum for their manufacture, and even recycled synthetics and blends release microplastics when washed or disposed of improperly, and they take forever to decompose. Plus they stink up a storm when you wear them, catch fire easily, and are generally poor temperature regulators.

This may be a contentious issue for some, e.g. animals rights advocates and environmentalists who say all wool and/or silk production is unavoidably inhumane/unsustainable. There's not enough space to get into it fully here but it's an important conversation.

I'd also love to see more attention to the types of gear used in bushcraft, which tend to be made from natural materials and metal. Timeless, durable stuff, not plastic, speaking to a different way of relating to nature.

Labor: It seems they gave their workers a hard time when they wanted to organize a union. But the workers finally won.

Minimalist/barefoot shoes: They stopped carrying Vibram Five Fingers and have no other barefoot/minimalist options that...