I joined Recreational Equipment Inc. back in the 1970’s. The cooperative was originally a place where one could obtain high-quality outdoor adventure equipment that wasn’t available through other retailers. These days you can obtain backpack tents and climbing gear from other retailers, but 40 years ago it was hard to find a locking carabiner or a bivouac tent in the local hardware store. Back then, Scheels was a hardware store with a very small sports section, not a sports store. In fact, when I make a purchase at REI these days, I have to remember to add two zeros to the beginning of my membership number in order to have the correct number of digits for the online ordering form. I remember a trip to Seattle when we visited the company’s only retail store. I think we might have bought a couple of sleeping pads, but mostly we just wandered around awed by the selection of camping equipment.

These days much has changed. I don’t find myself shopping at REI very much. There are other sources for the things that REI sells and REI is no longer a rough and tumble retailer of technical gear. These days more than half of the REI inventory is clothing. I guess jeans reinforced with duct tape at the knees is no longer the fashion for rock climbing and skiers need to have outfits that match. I remember the days when we wore wool snow pants and didn’t have fancy bibs for skiing. In those days we considered those with designer outfits to be “tourists” and not serious skiers.

I am, however, proud to be a member of the cooperative today. Yesterday I learned that REI has opted out of the Black Friday shopping frenzy that has gripped our nation. All of the company’s retail employees will receive their wages for the day, but the stores will be closed. REI wants its customers to take a hike - literally. “Black Friday is the perfect time to remind ourselves of the essential truth that life is richer, more connected and complete when you choose to spend it outside,” Jerry Stritzke, the chief executive of REI, said in a press release.

There have been a few clues that some retailers are re-thinking the craziness of frenzied holiday shopping. Staples, the office supply retailer, has announced that it will close its stores on Thanksgiving Day, something it did not do last year, to give customers and employees a holiday.

I’m not a typical Black Friday shopper. I try to avoid shopping at all during the Thanksgiving weekend. As I’ve commented before, in our profession, the only three day weekend is Thanksgiving. It is time for family and friends in my mind. And frequently around here it is a great weekend for an outdoor adventure as simple as taking a walk in the woods or putting a boat into the water for a last paddle before freeze up.

Something in me wants to celebrate REI’s decision. It seems to me that it might just be a very shrewd marketing choice. After all REI is in he business of selling gear for outdoor adventure. Theoretically, the thing that drives the business is not the experience of shopping in a store, even a fantastic store with an indoor climbing wall and plenty of tents set up. The thing that drives their business is people going outdoors to hike, climb, bike, ski, and paddle. More people going out for adventures should prove, in the long run, to be good for business.

Of course REI, as a cooperative, can afford to focus on other values than just short term profits. As members we weren’t motivated by the hope of financial gain when we joined the coop. We joined because we wanted access to quality gear at reasonable prices. I like having dividends that I can invest in gear when I shop at REI, but frankly I get more pleasure out of clerks who marvel at my low membership number and the joy of having been part of a movement for a long time.

It would be easy for me to rant about my dislike of the commercialization of holidays and my intense dislike of businesses that fail to give their employees time to celebrate Thanksgiving. I could report how I have avoided Black Friday sales for decades, preferring not to be part of the long lines and aggressive fights over low priced television sets and other consumer goods.

Instead, however, I would like to celebrate the decision of one retailer - a cooperative of which I am a member. REI has made up a hashtag for the campaign, #optoutside, and is inviting shoppers to share photos of their Black Friday hiking, biking and other excursions on social media. The retailer has also built a Web page offering suggestions for activities people might do instead of hitting the stores.

Of course we don’t have an REI retail store in our town, so in recent years I’ve done most of my REI shopping online. But I can celebrate the holiday and the store’s decision by not making any online purchases from them or anyone else on Black Friday. I plan to opt out of Cyber Monday as well.

I’m well aware that Christmas Shopping is an important part of the business plan of many retail merchants and that they depend on high volume of purchases between Thanksgiving and Christmas to make ends meet. The emphasis on making purchases, however, tends to corrupt both holidays in my mind.

Giving thanks for the blessings of this life doesn’t involve a shopping spree to obtain more consumer goods, many of which have short lives and are far from necessary for happy living. Celebrating the birth of Jesus doesn’t require running up huge credit card balances. And the best gifts we can give don’t involve items at all. They are the gifts of our time, attention and presence.

My advice for Black Friday shoppers mirrors that of the cooperative: Go take a hike!

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