Yeah, REI seems to be more adept at understanding market trends than Gander Mountain and Sears. You probably can't compete against the Amazons and specialtie etailers by just doing outdoors gear. Clothing is one area where a local store will always have an edge over online retailers since a lot of folks want to try on the item for fit and to see how it looks on them.

I might be getting too old for online forums though..."virtue signalling"? I'll have to Google that one.
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“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman