The decline of MEC is directly reflective of the overly materialistic and gear-oriented appetites of the outdoor recreation community. As a broad (yet diverse) group, we have become obsessed with the latest fanciest shiniest and best of everything. I want one in carbon, titanium, merino, and BPA-free! I need designer cuts to my shell so I look like a ninja, and more choices of colours to flash in my kit! We demanded more and more and more and they gave it to us, and compromised everything we naively thought the co-op was about to buy it buy it buy it. There's no single CEO to blame for MEC's decline. We can't lazily pin this death spiral on Backcountry or Last Hunt, or the ill-timed decision to go big with Intense. Look in the freaking mirror....NO, look in your closet and your gear storage.....look at all the crap we bought that we really don't need to enjoy being outdoors. WE KILLED IT. In the game of big store big selection low price, death is inevitable. Few will survive. The deeper MEC went into the arena of satisfying consumer lust, the more certain their fate became. I love the people trying desperately to save MEC, as if it is some last vestige of nobility in the outdoor gear frontier. Forget that. They're little different from the others apart from smugly being able to recite your member number when you go into the store. I won't miss them terribly. In fact, maybe I'll buy a little bit less now. I guarantee you this - buying less will do NOTHING to diminish my enjoyment and exploration of the outdoors. So long MEC, I enjoyed trying on a hundred garments and stuffing them into the sort bin, loved your awesome warranty, and thanks for employing some friends of mine. I'm sure we'll do fine without you, and just fine without whatever unholy zombie iteration of MEC-ness is resurrected in your place.
Sept. 29, 2020, 7:17 p.m. - jdt
The decline of MEC is directly reflective of the overly materialistic and gear-oriented appetites of the outdoor recreation community. As a broad (yet diverse) group, we have become obsessed with the latest fanciest shiniest and best of everything. I want one in carbon, titanium, merino, and BPA-free! I need designer cuts to my shell so I look like a ninja, and more choices of colours to flash in my kit! We demanded more and more and more and they gave it to us, and compromised everything we naively thought the co-op was about to buy it buy it buy it. There's no single CEO to blame for MEC's decline. We can't lazily pin this death spiral on Backcountry or Last Hunt, or the ill-timed decision to go big with Intense. Look in the freaking mirror....NO, look in your closet and your gear storage.....look at all the crap we bought that we really don't need to enjoy being outdoors. WE KILLED IT. In the game of big store big selection low price, death is inevitable. Few will survive. The deeper MEC went into the arena of satisfying consumer lust, the more certain their fate became. I love the people trying desperately to save MEC, as if it is some last vestige of nobility in the outdoor gear frontier. Forget that. They're little different from the others apart from smugly being able to recite your member number when you go into the store. I won't miss them terribly. In fact, maybe I'll buy a little bit less now. I guarantee you this - buying less will do NOTHING to diminish my enjoyment and exploration of the outdoors. So long MEC, I enjoyed trying on a hundred garments and stuffing them into the sort bin, loved your awesome warranty, and thanks for employing some friends of mine. I'm sure we'll do fine without you, and just fine without whatever unholy zombie iteration of MEC-ness is resurrected in your place.