If you live out West, you may be familiar with the Maverik tagline: “Adventure’s First Stop”
Well, REI tends to be adventure’s second stop for us!
I was looking back at a season of successful summiting and remembered a common thread around our trips this year… WE STOPPED AT REI! More specifically:
- Prior to heading out for Hood, I dropped some cash at REI in both Sandy and Salt Lake City, Utah.
- After sightseeing on South Sister, we resupplied at REI in Bend, Oregon.
- On my way home from a solo summit of Shasta, I stopped in to check out the REI in Reno, Nevada.
- Flew out for Baker, made time to see the flagship store in Seattle, Washington.
- Drove out for Rainier, my rope team grabbed a few forgotten items from REI in Boise, Idaho.
This reminded me of other times we had to stop for something on the way to some adventure:
- Our trip to Havasupai was preceded by a stop at REI in Henderson, Nevada.
- A lovely day on Longs was followed by a visit to their super cool location in Denver, Colorado.
It has almost become a game for me and how many REI’s I can see across the country!
2024 UPDATE: Add Anchorage to the list now, after traveling to Alaska for a Denali Prep Course.
There is one exception that became the catalyst for my idea.
When we flew to North Carolina to start my End of Summer East Coast Highpointing Tour, I had no solid reason for making my way to either of their locations near Charlotte. It was Labor Day weekend, with lots of other activities planned, and no motivation (nor incentive) to visit the local REI… and there are two of them here, one 8 miles to the north and another 15 miles south from where we were staying.
My Idea
That’s when the thought came to me.
What if this was turned into a game …an adventure game of the urban type …involving REI stores!
How would it work?
When you visit any REI, their mobile app would recognize that you are within the proximity of one of their stores by what is known as a geofence.
You would then need to “check in” on the app to prove that you were there. Buffalo Wild Wings has been doing this for a while now as a way to earn more points in their rewards program.
If you are not physically in or near their store, check-in fails.
However, when you are at one of their 1,295 locations, you get credit!
When you have enough points, you can redeem them for something on their menu.
Could you see something like this offered by REI? Would you find it fun to play?
I mean, they have 181 stores in 41 states. Let’s at least see a leaderboard for who has visited the most!
