Mountain Equipment Recyclers

Pat is currently in search of the perfect backpack, which led us to this great place. It's called Mountain Equipment Recyclers (1024 S. Tejon St.), and it exists solely to donate its profits to charity. What a wonderful idea! In fact, to date they've donated roughly $125,000 to local nonprofits. That's amazing! MER has a great variety of outdoors-related stuff, like backpacks (of course), tents, sleeping bags, cooking equipment, climbing equipment, bicycles of all types and sizes, even clothes and shoes. Some of the items are (gently) used, some are new. I was really impressed with their large, diverse inventory and their fantastic mission! If you want to consign the gently used outdoors equipment that's cluttering your house, this is the place to do it -- and you can donate some or all of the proceeds to the charity of your choice. It's a win-win!