For the third year running, REI will close its 151 stores on Black Friday, process no online sales and pay its 12,000 employees to #OptOutside with family and friends. New for 2017, the outdoor retailer has launched a series of new partnerships and an experiential search engine to help inspire and enable people to get outdoors. We spoke with REI's Alex Thompson and Rob Discher to learn more about the evolution, and the future, of the viral initiative.