REI closes on Black Friday for 5th year of Opt Outside campaign

REI closes on Black Friday for Opt Outside campaign

Q13's Travis Mayfield sits down with REI's CEO Eric Artz to talk about this Black Friday initiative encouraging people to opt outisde.

SEATTLE -- For the fifth year in a row REI is closing all of its stores and won't process any online payments on Black Friday. It's all in an effort to encourage employees to spend time with family and friends.

The campaign is called Opt Outside, encouraging employees to fight for life outdoors and life on this planet.

This year the company's CEO is also pushing people to set up an action plan, pushing them to take action steps all next year to reduce their environmental footprint.

"It's important for us to lean into our purpose and speak for what we stand for and that's what this event has been all about. It's created quite a movement," said CEO Eric Artz. "We have hundreds of organizations and probably a dozen states that have called us and said 'we want to join the movement and we'll open our parks for free on Friday, and Washington is one of those states."

Click here for more information and see the Opt to Act plan.