Euro REI

On Saturday night we stopped off at the German version of REI; we heard a rumor that they had a pool inside the store to demo equipment. We visited the flagship REI store in Denver, CO, where they have a track for testing mountain bikes and flume in the river for testing kayaks, and wanted to see how it compared.While the REI stores are definitely bigger, Globetrotter offered a few unique services. The pool in the center of the four story building was designed to test kayaks, canoes, and scuba equipment - a current could even be turned on at the touch of a button. The coolest features, however, were the rain and cold room. To try out their rain gear, you simply put it on and then stepped into the "rain room". Once in the room you can choose from simple rain or storm level rain. I wonder what they do with the jacket if you decide not to purchase it... Once your jacket has passed the rain test, you can demo it out in the "cold room" - literally a room with large ice block benches that is sub-zero degrees and has a wind option.

Oh, the money we could have spent in that store...