REI

Came across a reminder note from a visit last July (2013) to post a review; mainly want to compliment employee James, who was working at the counter with watches, gps, etc. He was incredibly knowledgeable with my questions about gps, and also on ideas for planning a BW canoe trip. Very patient, courteous, and dedicated employee.

I recently ordered a bicycle for my son online and had it shipped to the store. Early on a Wednesday afternoon, I received an email saying it was ready to pick up. Wednesday evening, at approximately 8:30pm, I arrived at REI Maple Grove to pick up the bicycle, and I was told it was no ready. Apparently their inventory/​logistics center treats their bicycles the same as all of the other merchandise.
Here’s where things start going a bit wrong. I was told that there is something at the bottom of my email that states I am supposed to call to see if it was ready to pick up. There was nothing like this in the email. I asked when the bike would be ready to pick up. The gentleman said, «I don’t know. Monday?»
I called REI tonight (Tuesday) to see if the bike was ready to pick up. I was transferred to the bike shop, and was put on hold again so they could check on it. A couple of minutes later, someone from the front picks up and tells me it is not ready to pick up. She also couldn’t tell me when it would be ready.
Frustrated, I made the trip to REI. I figured I was going to either leave with a bike or my money back. Honestly, I was expecting the latter. Once I arrived, I told the gentleman at the bike shop I was here to pick up my bike. A moment later, he’s pulling it down from the rack and I’m filling out paper work.
One caveat to this, is the bike shop did try to call us to let us know it was ready, but we recently cut the cord on our home phone. But, why when I call would you tell me it’s not ready?
I would much rather make the trip to Bloomington than go back to this store.

This REI is one of the smaller formats so you can’t find everything you need here. I came looking for a PLB and unfortunately they didn’t sell the ResQ link at this store. REI is pretty much one of the most frequented stores for me and being a member makes sense. For a single $ 20 payment you get to go to the garage sales, get your biannual 20% off and you get a 10% dividend check. For someone who likes to camp and hike REI is pretty sweet.

The selection is fine, but the employees do not know how to treat the customers in the store. Today they had three employees on cash registers and despite a very long waiting line to check out, two employees who were only helping customers calling in. Always a bad idea to make the customers who are ready to buy something wait while employees help those who are calling and maybe will result in a sale. After about 20 minutes in line I finally got to the register and could not believe it when the employee stopped in the middle of helping me to answer the phone!!! I left and don’t plan to return.

I’ll start by noting that the store is very tasteful and the sales people are fantastic. They are helpful and they make browsing the store a positive experience without applying any sales pressure.
However, the prices are exorbitant and the selection is finite. I’ve purchased a few shirts at this location that I liked, but I later came to regret that hefty investment as soon as I go home. In addition, I’ve stopped in to shop for a pair of boots on occasion and I was quite disappointed with the selection.
I long for the days when Gander Mountain was open in Maple Grove. I was able to go there and convene with others who lived on the fringe of society (the loners, the militiamen, the separatists, the unstable & bearded fathers buying their 4 year olds an assault weapon for «deer season»). That place had character, a wide selection and you didn’t have to drive a Range Rover to buy your outdoor goods.

I have a number of REI experiences including three this past weekend. I went to Bloomington on Saturday to purchase some Keen boots due to the recent winter storm and ended up with a pair where my heel slipped, not a good fit at all. Since no one helped me with sizing I am not surprised. I returned them on Saturday in Roseville only to find they didn’t have my size so I ended up in Maple Grove at the REI store there.
Once I arrived in Maple Grove I was greeted by a very friendly person at the customer service desk who was walking away to the cashiers but noticed me headed that way so she doubled back to help me immediately. She then grabbed the shoes I had on hold and was very pleasant.
After opening the box I noticed the wrong brand was in the Keen box so I headed back to shoes. They were swamped with customers but every time the sales person went by she acknowledged me and let me know she would be with me in a minute. I believe there were only two people as she was taking two to three orders at a time, to get sizes.
The sales person that helped me was Linnea. She was extremely helpful from finding the correct boot, to getting me other boots to try. She even went through specs on her portable device so that I could weight my options on what boot to buy. She was interacting with up to three of us at once and doing a very good job of it. You need more people like her in your other stores. Roseville is by my house but I’ll be coming back to Maple Grove in the future because of Linnea and the other great staff there. Thanks!