Imagine you really need something, but it costs a fortune at the store. What can you do? You can be disappointed—or find friends who need the same thing and buy it together. That’s exactly how one of America’s most unusual stores, REI, got its start in Seattle in 1938. It wasn’t founded by wealthy people or business executives, but by mountain lovers who simply needed a good ice axe.
An Ice Axe That Cost Too Much
Lawrence Whitaker and his wife, Mary, loved the mountains. Lawrence later became a professional mountain guide. An ice axe is a special kind of pick with a sharp end: climbers use it to grip ice and snow as they ascend a mountain. It’s essential on a serious climb.
Good ice axes were made in Austria at the time. But in Seattle, they were sold at very high prices. Lawrence found out that the exact same ice axe cost much less in Europe. It seemed strange: the item was the same, but you had to pay twice as much!
So Lawrence and Mary came up with a simple idea: order equipment together. They told their friends in the Mountaineers club. In all, 23 people joined. Each contributed one dollar to become a member, and together they began ordering good-quality gear from overseas at a fair price.
One Person, One Vote
The most interesting thing was how these 23 people set up their organization. They decided it would be a cooperative. It’s a complicated word, but the idea is simple: people join together to own something and help one another.
Imagine your class decides to buy a big set of paints together. Everyone chips in, and then you decide which colors to order. It doesn’t matter who contributed more money: everyone gets one vote. That’s how REI works, too: one member, one vote. The person who bought a small rope and the person who bought a huge tent have equal say.
There was another special feature. If the store made more money than it needed by the end of the year, some of it was returned to members—as if the store were saying, “Thanks for being with us.” This kind of payment is called a dividend (at REI, it takes the form of a rebate on purchases). The store doesn’t operate just for its own sake, but for the people who shop there.
At first, the warehouse was right in the Whitakers’ garage. Mary Whitaker became the first employee and ran the business as the store grew. Just imagine: ropes, ice axes, and boots stored where other people park their cars.
Unexpected Connections to Today
Amazingly, the cooperative is still around. Today, REI is a huge chain of stores across America, with around 20 million members (the number changes, so this is an estimate). And the basic principle remains the same: people who shop there are also, in a small way, its owners.
Here’s another connection I find especially beautiful. Lawrence Whitaker had a twin brother, Jim. In 1963, Jim Whittaker became the first American to climb Everest, the highest mountain in the world. He later worked at REI, too, and even became its leader. So a little store for climbers gave rise to a family connected with the highest peak on the planet!
There’s a more recent story, too. In 2015, REI did something no one expected. On Black Friday—the day when stores lure people in with discounts—REI closed its stores and encouraged everyone to get outdoors. The campaign was called #OptOutside. For an ordinary store, that was a bold move: closing on the biggest shopping day of the year! But for a cooperative founded by nature lovers, it made perfect sense: the most important thing wasn’t to sell more, but to help people love mountains, forests, and fresh air.
What We Can Learn
What I like about this story is that it began with such a small problem: an expensive ice axe. No one was thinking of building a “big company.” Just 23 people decided, “Let’s help one another.” And they built a real business that has lasted for almost a hundred years.
This story is a reminder that good ideas often don’t begin with grand plans, but with simple questions like “Why is this so expensive?” and “What if we do this together?” Maybe your class or neighborhood has its own “ice axe problem”—and your friends could be the start of something big.
