Climbing Back Up The Mountain: Eastern Mountain Sports

I read this article shortly before becoming a part-time employee at one the 85 stores mentioned. I had been a patron of the store for over 7 years and watched the logos change, and saw the shift of the store, and thought the company was heading back into the right direction. After almost two years of working there, I decided to move on, mostly because I switched my day time job back in the city, but where is the passion of EMS?

This article highlights the good changes, but as of December 2006, ripe for the holidays, the company started making "Guides" where Blue lanyards that say Gift-Cards Always Perfect and also attaching a gift card to the lanyard. This may not seem strange in the retail world, but seeing how the last lanyards were about safety in the wilderness Stay Put, Stay Dry I thought this a reversal of the referenced motto of EMS.

My point? I think EMS is heading into the wrong direction with the current merchandise it labels/manufactures. I think that they should listen to the likes of Yvon Chouinard and do more for the environment, like having the managers take care of Recycling in the store (currently not all stores have the ability to recycle more than cardboard). I think they should concentrate on a set of products well and improve them, instead of trying to make everything, especially military/urban style clothing.

Reach out to your local stores, call the 1-800 # and send emails to the company letting them know that they are not going in the right direction. They are heading to the Mall again with some of the current products. I believe that EMS is an awesome company, a great brand for the Northeast, and a great place to work, but I don't agree with everything they are doing in the stores, and with products.

This is just my point of view.
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Climbing Back Up The Mountain: "By the time Manzer signed on as CEO in 2003, 'EMS had become a Gap with climbing ropes'.