REI, the nation’s largest consumer co-op, will be laying off 167 employees, or 8% of their Seattle-area headquarters workforce, the company announced Tuesday.
“We have clear goals for the future of the co-op and are confident in our long-term strategies,” said REI. “But in the face of increasing uncertainty, we need to sharpen our focus on the most critical investments and areas of work to best serve our members and grow the co-op over the long term. We will need to make hard choices, and that will be the work ahead for all of us,” the company said in a post to employees.
This comes after the sale of their Bellevue office in 2020 to Facebook for $360 million.
“To ensure that future impact, it is vital that we get the co-op back to profitability as quickly as possible,” said REI.
All impacted employees have been notified and offered severance packages, four months of health care coverage, and payouts for remaining vacation time as well as bonuses from 2022.