SEATTLE — REI CEO Eric Artz announced Thursday the company is laying off 357 employees as it braces for what's expected to be a "challenging" year ahead.
According to the message shared with employees, the layoffs will impact 200 people at headquarters, six from sales and customer support, 30 from experiences, meaning classes and trips, and 121 in distribution centers. No non-headquarters store-specific roles will be impacted.
Artz said every employee whose job is eliminated will be getting separation benefits including severance, COBRA, and outplacement support and services.
The company added it does not plan to backfill recent leadership departures and instead will "take the opportunity to right-size" its senior leadership team to the needs of the business. Altogether, Artz said the company is reducing the size of its senior leadership team by 22% in 2024.
Artz said the layoffs come as outdoor specialty retail has experienced major declines over the last four quarters and is continuing to worsen. "While we were able to outperform this trend for much of the last year, it caught up to us in Q4 and we now expect conditions to remain very challenging throughout 2024," said Artz.
The company is planning for 2024's revenue to be down from 2023, which means it is adjusting "plans and cost structure accordingly."
In February 2023, REI laid off more than 160 people as it anticipated worsening economic conditions for the business last year.
Artz said Thursday in his letter, "We must also continue our work to return REI to profitability to set the co-op up for long-term health and success."
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