After several years of waning profits, REI Co-op improved its finances significantly in 2025, according to information released Monday. But the nation’s largest consumer co-op and outdoor retailer may face even more turbulence in 2026.
The latest financial reports from REI show that it has been successful in narrowing the gap toward profitability. After posting a $156 million loss in 2024, the retailer reduced its net loss to $54.3 million in 2025, thanks to “healthy full-price selling and stronger inventory management,” according to a financial report released Monday. While not quite breaking even, it’s a big improvement from REI’s record losses of $311 million in 2023.
In fact, the retailer has only achieved profitability twice in the last 7 years: 2019 and 2021. REI’s current president and CEO, Mary Beth Laughton, attributed the financial improvement to Peak 28, a 3-year plan for shoring up the company’s profitability unveiled in September 2025.
But the company’s “path to profitability” also meant cutting hundreds of jobs in its 40-year-old Adventures program, as well as cuts to employee benefits and reduced wages for new workers. That has galvanized REI Union, which plans to boycott REI’s biggest sale of the year: the Anniversary Sale on May 15–25.
So far, REI and REI Union have failed to reach an agreement, even as the union continues to gain momentum. An REI store in San Diego became the 12th REI location — and largest so far — to vote for unionization on April 27.
REI 2025 Financials at a Glance
- $3.54 billion in net sales, a slight increase from 2024.
- $1.52 billion in gross profit, up $100 million, or 7%, year-over-year.
- $203 million distributed to members through Co‑op Member Rewards.
- $121.9 million invested in employee incentives and profit sharing — a 44% increase from 2024.
- $11.8 million donations for outdoor nonprofits through the co-op and from partners and customers.
REI in the 2020s
In 2019, it seemed that nothing could slow REI Co-op’s momentum. Its 2018 annual report showed record profits that followed a remarkable winning streak going back 15 years.
Then the pandemic hit, creating a net loss of tens of millions of dollars in 2020. Despite one profitable year in 2021, the retailer has been posting annual losses ever since. It was also in 2019 that Eric Artz became president and CEO of the co-op. Part of his efforts to steer the company back toward profitability included cuts to the outdoor guiding services offered through REI’s Adventures program. Artz rebranded the program as REI Experiences in 2022 — the same year that REI saw its first store vote to unionize.
In January 2025, Artz cut the Experiences division entirely, resulting in hundreds of laid-off workers and the end of decades-long relationships with outdoor guides. Soon after, Artz stepped down as CEO, and Mary Beth Laughton, an executive with experience at Nike and Instacart, took over.
In March, an internal memo from Laughton was obtained by the media, revealing several changes to benefits and wages. Current employees would have fewer vacation days and see changes to sick-day policies. The company would also lower wages for new hourly employees, likely beginning this summer. That news led REI Union to announce a boycott of the Anniversary Sale.
Boycott of Sale
On Friday, the REI Union officially announced a planned boycott of the REI Anniversary Sale “after contract negotiations concluded without a fair contract offer,” the group said.
In addition to the workers at 11 unionized stores, the union claims that 70,000 co-op members signed an online petition promising “not to shop during REI’s Anniversary Sale if the company continued to bargain in bad faith.”
Both REI and the union have accused each other of stymying efforts to reach an agreement. In March, an REI representative told GearJunkie that the union’s decision to boycott the sale was “disappointing.”
Although some longtime REI supporters now question if the co-op has lost its values, there’s no shortage of customers joining its ranks.
REI added another million members in 2025, according to its financial report. Now boasting more than 26 million members, it’s still the largest consumer co-op in the country — and certainly the biggest in outdoor retail.
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