6 ms·

REI is my favorite toy store. I know their prices are higher than, say, Wal-Mart, but I actually feel good supporting them. Plus, you can find insanely good s

REI is my favorite toy store. I know their prices are higher than, say, Wal-Mart, but I actually feel good supporting them. Plus, you can find insanely good sales if you're a member and you go to their garage sales. One year I got an entire ski setup (boots, skis, bindings, and installation) for under $300. Ended up reselling them for like $500 3 years later when I moved away from Boston. Got great boots at a garage sale for like $30, too. You just have to be prepared to get there early and scavenge.

devy 9y ago
> REI is my favorite toy store. It's mine too. Do they advertise garage sales or you have to be friends with the store manager to get the scoop?
- SnacksOnAPlane 9y ago
  They normally advertise them.
- radnor 9y ago
  It was March 18th this year - https://www.rei.com/promotions/garage-sale https://www.rei.com/promotions/garage-sale
- praneshp 9y ago
  They advertise them. Just go to the store's page, for example Mountain View is at https://www.rei.com/stores/mountain-view.html https://www.rei.com/stores/mountain-view.html
rconti 9y ago
You can absolutely find better deals elsewhere, but I find once I get my ~10% back at the end of the year, it all averages out. And anyway, I like supporting such a consumer (member?)-friendly company, and their return policy is top notch. I don't think twice about returning crap gear, and they don't think twice about accepting it -- and it feels like it benefits all of the members, because it feels like they care about my complaints and they likely won't sell the same junk for much longer. Whereas it feels like other stores will just sell whatever makes money.
- SnacksOnAPlane 9y ago
  Yeah, that's what's great about the company. How many companies can you say "they cost a little bit more, but I like them so much that I'm willing to pay it" about? I can count like 3. It's a testament to how awesome they are.
  - scriptkiddy 9y ago
    The only other company I can think of where I don't mind spending more for the quality is Bates boots. They consistently outperform all of the other brands that I've tried. They are super durable, and they have a boot for almost any use. They're also one of the few boot companies that have a soft-toe and steel/composite toe offering for almost every model.
manyxcxi 9y ago
I was into hiking and camping at a young age (Boy Scouts, friends who's parents did it) but my parents weren't what you'd call outdoorsy. We were good for about one or two family camping trips a year. I'd saved up some cash and bought a few things from REI over the years but now it was a week before freshman year of high school and I needed a new backpack. I also had my eye on an REI house brand beauty for hiking that was a whopping $99 (this was 1997 and we weren't exactly the kind of family spending $99 on frivolous things). Shocked at the outrageous price (being used to $15 Jansport) my mom proclaimed that it would never happen. I brought up the fact that I had never made it through an entire school year with one single cheap bag and that one REI bag would last me all of high school, so we'd be saving money. Smash cut to 18 years later the water proof interior lining had all but completely flaked off and the drawstring channel tore in such a way that it was time to just call it quits. That bag survived through 4 years of high school, 4 more of university, 200+ (maybe twice more) days of real backwoods camping, at least 500 fishing and hunting trips, 4 continents, and two kids of my own. It was a very sad day when I finally had to admit it was time to put that old bag down to rest, but I didn't even think twice about where I was going to replace it from.

devy 9y ago

> REI is my favorite toy store. It's mine too. Do they advertise garage sales or you have to be friends with the store manager to get the scoop?

SnacksOnAPlane 9y ago
They normally advertise them.
radnor 9y ago
It was March 18th this year - https://www.rei.com/promotions/garage-sale https://www.rei.com/promotions/garage-sale
praneshp 9y ago
They advertise them. Just go to the store's page, for example Mountain View is at https://www.rei.com/stores/mountain-view.html https://www.rei.com/stores/mountain-view.html

rconti 9y ago

You can absolutely find better deals elsewhere, but I find once I get my ~10% back at the end of the year, it all averages out. And anyway, I like supporting such a consumer (member?)-friendly company, and their return policy is top notch. I don't think twice about returning crap gear, and they don't think twice about accepting it -- and it feels like it benefits all of the members, because it feels like they care about my complaints and they likely won't sell the same junk for much longer. Whereas it feels like other stores will just sell whatever makes money.

SnacksOnAPlane 9y ago
Yeah, that's what's great about the company. How many companies can you say "they cost a little bit more, but I like them so much that I'm willing to pay it" about? I can count like 3. It's a testament to how awesome they are.
- scriptkiddy 9y ago
  The only other company I can think of where I don't mind spending more for the quality is Bates boots. They consistently outperform all of the other brands that I've tried. They are super durable, and they have a boot for almost any use. They're also one of the few boot companies that have a soft-toe and steel/composite toe offering for almost every model.

manyxcxi 9y ago

I was into hiking and camping at a young age (Boy Scouts, friends who's parents did it) but my parents weren't what you'd call outdoorsy. We were good for about one or two family camping trips a year. I'd saved up some cash and bought a few things from REI over the years but now it was a week before freshman year of high school and I needed a new backpack. I also had my eye on an REI house brand beauty for hiking that was a whopping $99 (this was 1997 and we weren't exactly the kind of family spending $99 on frivolous things). Shocked at the outrageous price (being used to $15 Jansport) my mom proclaimed that it would never happen. I brought up the fact that I had never made it through an entire school year with one single cheap bag and that one REI bag would last me all of high school, so we'd be saving money. Smash cut to 18 years later the water proof interior lining had all but completely flaked off and the drawstring channel tore in such a way that it was time to just call it quits. That bag survived through 4 years of high school, 4 more of university, 200+ (maybe twice more) days of real backwoods camping, at least 500 fishing and hunting trips, 4 continents, and two kids of my own. It was a very sad day when I finally had to admit it was time to put that old bag down to rest, but I didn't even think twice about where I was going to replace it from.