It's always surprised me that Asheville didn't have an REI. In fact, for a long time I just assumed that we did, but I'm not a huge "outdoorsy" person and just occasionally liked going into Mast General Store - a local NC icon. The current Asheville store has been in the same downtown location since the 1940s.
Finally someone important at REI realized there was a huge market to be tapped in Asheville, where outdoor activities, even just small-time hiking and camping, are HUGE. And so, they opened the Asheville store. It's a very appropriate location too, away from downtown and around other recent retail space additions over in East Asheville (off of Long Shoals Road for those of you that know Asheville well).
Although I fully support Mast General Store and will continue to do so (as I do all local business), I also love REI. When I'm here working at the Carolina Mornings East Branch office, living in Chapel Hill and Durham, I go to REI all the time. I really love that it is a consumer cooperation, meaning that customers can 'buy' a membership at a one-time fee of $20, and are actually buying into the co-op. I love that mentality in a large company, but also, I get a check in the mail once a year for 10% of what I purchased. The membership paid for itself in my first shopping trip as a member.
Go check out the new REI, especially if you've never been to one. Just don't forget about our great local businesses, either. They are what make Asheville unique!
3 comments:
Our family loves REI. Some of their stores, not Asheville unfortunately, have a climbing wall. We used to take our children to the Redmond, WA and Seattle, WA stores and let them climb after any shopping we had to do.
that's a great incentive to get them to 'suffer' through the shopping! i wish i'd had something like that to look forward to when my parents dragged me to home depot as a kid!
I am going to check it out. Sounds good. Thanks.
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