REI Lays Off Nearly 275 Retail Employees as It Revamps Store Operations

The cuts stem from REI's decision to eliminate the "lead role" in stores in favor of different roles.

REI Co-op is laying off hundreds of store employees as the retailer implements updates to its store operations system.

In a note to all employees on Thursday, which was shared with FN, REI’s VP of stores Mary-Farrell Tarbox said the company would be letting go about 275 of its 12,300 store employees as it eliminates the “lead role” in stores in favor of different roles.

“This is not something we take lightly—these actions are necessary to set us up for long-term success,” Tarbox wrote. “These changes will give us the flexibility needed to support our business, provide enhanced hours predictability for most staff, improve accountability at all levels, ensure we’re investing the right number of hours into the right roles.”

She added that REI has invested these lost hours back into different store roles. REI said it will open about 1,300 new jobs through Q4, including full-time jobs and seasonal hires.

REI also announced updates to its scheduling model, store management structure and job descriptions, which included the addition of senior specialist and senior shop mechanic roles.

“These updated roles and areas of responsibility allow us to create new processes to make work easier for managers and employees, help teams prioritize work against our measures of success and allow managers to spend less time on routine administrative tasks — freeing them up to focus on engaging employees and delivering an exceptional customer experience in store,” Tarbox said.

The layoffs and changes to REI’s store fleet come on the heel of a growing unionizing campaign across REI’s fleet, which has included stores in Boston, Chicago, California, New York City and more. Employees in this effort have advocated for better pay and hours.

The cuts also mark the latest round of layoffs for REI this year. In late January, the retailer said it would cut 167 corporate employees as it restructured its headquarters in Kent, Wash. The cuts impacted 8% of workers in the HQ and 1 percent of the company’s total workforce.

Since the start of 2023, Under Armour, Amazon, Bolt, Everlane, Kohl’s, Saks, Wolverine, David’s Bridal, Gap and more retail and technology companies have announced major cuts across their workforces.