High Sierra Topix

The discussion on 4 season tents started me thinking. I bought a lot of gear from REI in the 70's and 80's. They were one of the few places in the SFO bay area you could go for good gear in the mid 70's. (Berkeley). I have member # 719508. Any earlier ones? I'm just curious, not being self important here. I seem to recall, this was when Yvon Chouinard was just getting his Patagonia line going. Royal Robbins was in the mix too with his gear.

Growing up in rural Calif. and Nevada, I never heard of REI until sometime in the early 80's when I moved to Calif. yet again. I was a little skeptical about having to pay for a membership before I could buy anything. I got over it. My number has 7 digits not 6 like yours. You mean someone made gear besides Coleman and Sears and Roebuck back then?

Is that a real Poncho, or a Sears Poncho?
Thanks FZ.

hikerduane wrote:Growing up in rural Calif. and Nevada, I never heard of REI until sometime in the early 80's when I moved to Calif. yet again. I was a little skeptical about having to pay for a membership before I could buy anything. I got over it. My number has 7 digits not 6 like yours. You mean someone made gear besides Coleman and Sears and Roebuck back then?

I've purchased several things from REI and I'm not a member
I think if you pay to be a member , you get a discount. Maybe Eric can enlighten us.

I have a 7 digit number. I paid $5 (one time fee) to become a member, but I think it might be $10-15 now. (?)

I have the REI Visa card too, so I get 1% of any purchase added to my rebate. I charge meals, groceries, etc and usually get ~$200 at the end of the year. I have a separate gas card that gets a little more (was 5%)deducted each month, but I have to figure out what it is since they changed their policy.

Yesterday I got a call from a vendor asking if I made a purchase (which I did not). It was made from Viet Nam, so that's why they called me. Whoever made the purchase from Viet Nam had my work number, address in Torrance, and my card number! So I called (there were other purchases that were not mine) and cut the card up and will be getting a new one in a week or so.

edit: SnowDude's card just got cancelled. We got them at different times and we have separate accounts/numbers/names (I didn't switch cards to my married name). Someone charged $1900 thru a travel agent. Trying to figure out how this can happen two days apart!

I've got #35xxxx - I think membership was only $1 at the time.

The only store was in Seattle... I was jazzed when they opened the Berkely store, as I lived in the bay area at that time.

I've got a number in the 8xx,xxx range since I joined around 1977 or 78. There was a fairly new store in Carson - the only one in LA. Was more like a big factory warehouse (like a Price Club), but the sales people were always real friendly and gave good advice.

For good or bad, they've certainly come a long way.

The Other Tom, when I joined, you had to be a member to buy from them, at least when calling and I didn't know where they had stores. I only thought they had a store or warehouse in Seattle.

I joined REI when it was only $5 too. I worked for REI for 5 years, both in the Sacramento store and the Roseville store. It's an awesome place to work. I decided to quit when I got married in April so I can spend more time with my wife. (I only worked part-time, it wasn't my main job) I like everything about REI, from both a long time customer standpoint, and an employee. The prodeals aren't so bad either.

It's nice to hear that it's a good place to work -- makes it more of a pleasure to shop there.

As long as we're comparing numbers, mine is (takes out glasses) 3xxxx, heheheh. I remember as a college student browsing through the mail-order catalogs (the only retail store was in Seattle, and we were in California), making up dream lists -- like down sleeping bags! What a luxury that would be!