Photo Courtesy of REI
A few years ago REI started a movement to #OPTOUTSIDE on Black Friday, rather than hitting the stores for sales.
As a seasonal store, the idea of Opting Outside does not affect us, since our storefront isn’t open on that day. We realize that it will affect some of our friends, but we encourage you to #OptOutside on Friday and then visit some of our favorite shops on Small Business Saturday! (Nicole recently shared on the Little Luxuries’ blog some of her favorite places in Petoskey, Michigan, including some businesses where you can shop on Small Business Saturday this year!)
REI started this #OptOutside movement in 2015, as a way for people to spend their holiday weekends doing more than being Thankful on Thursday and then hitting the shops for all the deals on Friday. Instead, they encourage people to “reconnect outdoors after the holidays.” To hit their point home, they close all of their shops and pay their employees (all 12,000+ of them!) to spend time outside. It was reported that more than 1.4 million people and 170 organizations chose to join them that first year. (Read their blog post about the #OptOutside Movement here. Large name companies such as Subaru, Google, Upworthy and more have partnered with them to take this challenge.
We encourage you and your family to take time on Black Friday to #OptOutside. Hit a local park for a leisurely walk, go for a hike at the local Michigan State Park or find a run to participate in. This year, REI has furthered their efforts, by “Opt to Act” this year. They are challenging people to get out and participate in cleanup events nationwide. We want to be able to enjoy the beautiful parks, preserves and areas that we have, so we should help do our part! To learn more about these events, click here.
At Canvas and Paddle, we encourage taking the long way home, being surrounded with the basic pleasures and the quiet places - whether that’s the backroads, a hidden path or a single dock on your favorite pond. This Black Friday, we are challenging you to join the #OptOutside Movement with you and your family, just to see what happens! We know that we are taking the challenge and are excited to spend the day outside, exploring more of our favorite parks and trails.
We hope that you’ll share your #OptOutside adventures by using the #OptOutside and #CPandMe hashtags. We can’t wait to see what you’ll do!