This week, read these articles on retailer REI and the topic of Black Friday.

https://www.businessinsider.com/rei-closes-for-black-friday-survives-retail-apocalypse-2018-10 (Links to an external site.)

https://www.rei.com/opt-outside (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

https://twitter.com/rei (Links to an external site.)

Retailer REI chose again to close on Thanksgiving instead of directly reaping the rewards of higher sales on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving).  Their hashtag: #OptOutside is the battle cry.

This question has two parts:

Part 1: read the articles and analyze REIs strategy and cite some reasons why this strategy makes sense for REI.  Why was this a big deal in social media?

Part 2:  Would this strategy make sense for all retailers?  In particular, think about your response in our continuing COVID-19 environment, Why or why not, and support your response.