{"id":16747,"date":"2025-08-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-residents-protest-rei-urge-shoppers-to-support-local-stores\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:01:14","slug":"durango-residents-protest-rei-urge-shoppers-to-support-local-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-residents-protest-rei-urge-shoppers-to-support-local-stores\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango residents protest REI, urge shoppers to support local stores"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Community
Community members gather in front of the new Durango REI store in Bodo Industrial Park on Thursday to show their support for local businesses. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Residents and business owners protested the opening of REI on Thursday in Durango.<\/p>\n

The demonstration took place during REI\u2019s members-only kickoff event.<\/p>\n

Participants set out to promote shopping locally and, longer term, hope the national retailer will shut down its Durango location, said Jimbo Buickerood, an event organizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this as a corporate behemoth that really has a significant threat to (local) businesses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Buickerood, a longtime REI member, said the store isn\u2019t needed in Durango and could harm a market already served by existing outdoor retailers.<\/p>\n

REI Durango Store Manager Meghan Wyrwich said the co-op hopes to share space with local businesses and support collaborations that get the community outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many products and services that customers ask about that we don\u2019t carry,\u201d Wyrwich said. \u201cOur local team knows what other stores offer and constantly direct folks to other stores where they can find what they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chase LaCroix, owner of gear and apparel shop Outdoor Exchange, joined protesters Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many great community merchants already in existence that support different outdoor activities,\u201d LaCroix said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t see what opportunity (REI) sees, other than corporate greed. I think they\u2019re coming in trying to dominate the market share.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lilly Osing, retail manager at Outdoor Exchange, who also attended the protest, said the store hasn\u2019t seen a notable change yet in terms of foot traffic and sales, but that Outdoor Exchange customers have been reporting buying wares at REI that Outdoor Exchange also offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts to see people come in and say that they went to REI first and bought something there, versus something at the Outdoor Exchange,\u201d Osing said. \u201cPeople are still coming here to finish out their gear setup, but that dollar is going somewhere else, rather than being purchased in our store. It\u2019s sad, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community member and 34-year REI member Brand Burden, who was visiting with his son, John Burden, for the members-only event was in support of the protest, despite being an REI customer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s good for voices to be heard,\u201d Brand said.<\/p>\n

He said he still patronizes local shops that sell similar wares, but REI\u2019s convenience and price points \u2013 especially with member discounts \u2013 are attractive elements to him that sometimes bring him back to the corporate giant.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomics is one thing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other thing is that in a bigger store, there\u2019s more variety. Say you\u2019re looking for a sleeping bag: you might find 10 or 15 in here. And go to the local store, you might find a quarter of that, or half of that. I like to do local, but sometimes, it\u2019s just \u2026 sometimes it\u2019s 50% more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mary
Mary Grizzard protests REI with her handmade sign, Thursday in Durango. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Buickerood said Thursday\u2019s protest is just the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not going to be a one-off,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be seeing letters to the editor, and (to) publishers, and more rallies \u2013 whatever else people think might be effective. Frankly, (we want to) let REI know that they\u2019re not welcome here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Walsworth, executive director for the Business Improvement District, was unavailable for comment Friday.<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

manager says co-op isn\u2019t a one-stop shop; supports collaboration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,1409,28,976],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-demonstration","tag-headlines","tag-outdoor-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16747"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20369,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747\/revisions\/20369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16747"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}