Gander Mountain Closing

[Catch 22]

 

 

I hope not.Its the only store close by so I can touch stuff.

 

http://www.twincities.com/2017/02/10/report-gander-mountain-preparing-bankruptcy-filing/

[Darren.]

Man, that stinks!

 

And I just posted in the BPS/Cabelas thread that

their deal is on shaky ground, which I would like

to see fail, honestly. But I hope it doesn't mean

bankruptcy for Cabelas either.

[RoLo]

In my opinion, Gander Mountain functioned as a brick-&-mortar store for too long.

To my knowledge, they were the last major tackle chain to incorporate online shopping,

which I believe was a mistake they never recovered from.

 

Roger

[lonnie g]

hope not. but I would encourage big box type stores, to really invest in counter people at there specific department,to be very knowlageble.  for example I was In acadamy few months back wanting certain bait. they didn't even know if they carried brand. I found it,they did. ask second ? they didn't know that answer either. what a shame! I too like to hold , feel, ask questions .my point being invest heavily in the customer. and just maybe that bottom line would be better.

[Senko lover]

From my personal standpoint, Gander Mountain is WAY too overpriced, but then again that goes for all the big chains.

[Bluebasser86]

Never been to one, but less competition for BPS can't be a good thing.

[Glenn]

(Reuters) - U.S. hunting and fishing chain Gander Mountain Co is preparing to file for bankruptcy as early as this month, after an aggressive effort to expand its store base failed to pull in new customers, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

Gander Mountain is working with financial advisory firm Lighthouse Management Group Inc and law firm Fredrikson & Byron PA as it gets ready to file for bankruptcy, the people said this week.

 

The sources asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Gander Mountain and Lighthouse Management declined to comment this week, while a spokeswoman for Fredrikson did not return a request for comment made on Wednesday.

 

Gander Mountain, which bills itself as America's firearms superstore, has faced challenges capitalizing on a booming gun market. The Federal Bureau of Investigation carried out a record 27.5 million background checks on people seeking to buy guns in 2016, up 19 percent from the year before.

 

Gander also has stiff competition from rivals like Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's Inc (CAB.N), which have been revamping their stores to attract customers with restaurants and shooting activities.

 

Bass Pro agreed last year to buy Cabela's for $5.5 billion, potentially putting more pressure on Gander Mountain, though the deal has to overcome major hurdles to close, including antitrust concerns.

 

Based in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Gander Mountain was taken private in 2010 by Gratco, a holding company controlled by Gander Chairman and Chief Executive David Pratt, and Holiday Stationstores, a gas-station retail operation controlled by Minnesota's Erickson family.

 

Gander Mountain confronts financial trouble after an aggressive expansion across the United States for a total of about 160 stores, with nearly 60 new outposts opened or announced since 2012.

[Karma]

I have only been in one of their stores and I was not impressed. Then again I am not very impressed with Academy or Bass Pro for that matter. Cabela's is about the only one of the major retail stores that have people in each department that know their stuff.

 

I am hoping that with this the Bass Pro Cabela's deal falls flat on its face.

[jimf]

I could see this coming.   I have a Ganders Mtn and a BPS near me.  The Gander Mtn store is huge, and always empty.  To me it's amazing that it's stayed open as long as it has.

 

As far as less competition for BPS, that's true to an extent I suppose but with online options like Tackle Warehouse, Ebay etc...  I can't imagine BPS can just run amuck.   

 

 

[S. Sass]

There is a Gander Mountain where my daughter lives and a Academy. I can't speak for the employees knowledge as I didn't ask for any assistance. But just store vs store Academy stomped Gander Mountain in the ground. Way more inventory and the prices were way better overall at Academy. It wasn't even comparable.

 

Gander Mountain looked like it was literally closing to me. A lot of empty shelves and floor space. Maybe they are but there was no signs indicating such. 

[TOXIC]

I've worked some shows in Gander.  To me, they are not the same as bps or cabelas.  I do shows in those stores and also some of their grand openings.  They are both destinations with the aquariums and game mounts.  Gander doesn't have any of that and still charge the same.  Not to mention that bps and cabelas are more family orientated and include something for the wife and kids as well as those looking for hunting and fishing tackle.  They have an expansive clothing area as well as home goods not to mention some have restaurants.  Getting the family out is a big advantage.  

[Darren.]

5 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

I've worked some shows in Gander.  To me, they are not the same as bps or cabelas.  I do shows in those stores and also some of their grand openings.  They are both destinations with the aquariums and game mounts.  Gander doesn't have any of that and still charge the same.  Not to mention that bps and cabelas are more family orientated and include something for the wife and kids as well as those looking for hunting and fishing tackle.  They have an expansive clothing area as well as home goods not to mention some have restaurants.  Getting the family out is a big advantage.  

 

All good points and true to Gander Mtns I've visited.

My sons much rather BPS and Cabelas for the aquarium.

[Deleted account]

Other than certain niche locations (Islamorada Offshore Angler® comes to mind) Most traditional sporting goods retailers are in trouble.

[Gundog]

Heard about a few GMs stores closing. Its a shame because occasionally they had good sales going on. Use to stop at one every time I went down Harrisburg way. I liked their store brand soft plastic baits more than most. 

[Catch 22]

I was in the. GM store ,York,Pa last week. All nice folks.Good inventory.

So what is the cause  of the big store failures.

Offshore  cheap goods

The internet

Failure to stay family oriented[as mentioned]

Overall economy

The bait monkey  not doing his job?

All the above

[gim]

4 hours ago, Senko lover said:

From my personal standpoint, Gander Mountain is WAY too overpriced, but then again that goes for all the big chains.

 

You can say that again.  And its not just fishing gear, its virtually everything.  A box ammo that costs 17 bucks somewhere else costs 25 bucks at Gander Mtn.

[MattC]

I have a BPS and Gander Mountain both an hour and a half ride from my house. Gander Mountain is literally 5minutes down the road from BPS and while at BPS over the summer I drove down the road to Gander and noticed they had higher prices on almost everything in the fishing department compared to BPS and on top of that not a single person in the department to help the numerous customers that were in that specific area alone. There were quite a few father and sons there looking to buy stuff or looking to get started fishing together and it killed me to see them not be able to have any questions answered for them to have an idea what they'd need or what would work best for the surrounding area waters. luckily they had the same thought as I and drove back down to BPS where there were MANY associates working with actual real knowledge who know the local waters and what works best.

[thebillsman]

My town just got a Gander about six months ago. They have a good selection but their prices are too high. Fishing stuff, guns and ammo, clothing.. all priced on the high end. Their staff was so pushy for the first few months, but now that their honeymoon is over they've relaxed. 

[nascar2428]

Over expansion will doom you every time.

[N Florida Mike]

I went to a GM once.It was a smaller store and almost no customers.Looked around for a little while and Didnt buy anything.

The first time I went to a BPS , my wife put up with it for 3 HOURS and finally asked if we could please leave.She almost had to drag me out .

I see a little negativity on here with BPS.Whats up with that?I have had nothing but good experiences there.

I also really like Academy .Great selection and lower prices .

Dicks has less of a selection,but they often have specific baits I can't find elsewhere .

 

[IndianaFinesse]

At least we might be able to cash in on some store closing clearance deals, but in the long run this will hurt the consumer.  At least they already had very high prices, so they weren't exactly driving prices down because of their competition.

[basscrusher]

I agree they are overpriced.  Most plastics there run about a dollar more than at DSG or BPS, and TW is even cheaper than them all usually.  And I think all the above about not being a "destination" like BPS with the aquariums, restaurant, old fashioned candy shops, etc hurts too.  But I was also listening to an episode of Marketplace on NPR about 6 months ago, and they had a retail expert on who said that in the last decade, many, many retailers got too tempted to over-expand.  He was saying that the VAST majority (like 90%) of all retailers need to stay between 3 and 50 stores.  Only a handful nationally can maintain more.  And many, stubbornly, refuse to scale back until it is too late.  Funny, because most of my AP Econ students can look at a monopolisitic competitor's cost/revenue curves and tell when you're in trouble.  (Obviously the company has much more complete and nuanced info, but still...)  In fact, next year this might be my lesson for teaching diseconomy of scale...

[Buckeye Ron]

When I lived in Ohio I would visit the GM store in Huber Heights near Dayton. Every time I went in there it was busy,and driving by the store on the highway the parking lot was always crowded. The store was always fully stocked in both hunting and fishing areas.

 

Hard to read all these posts about their impending bankruptcy but it is what it is. Lots of companies are going under nowadays,plus how many hunting and fishing chains can the economy support?

 

 

[Sam]

Every retail store has a "buyer" for each department.

 

So a Gander Mountain in Tennessee may have a fantastic selection of bass fishing stock while a Gander Mountain in Virginia may not.  It is up to each buyer to stock their store based on the sales in their store. The buyers will stock their shelves with the items that sell, be it fresh or saltwater.

 

Same is true with the employees. Some stores will have very knowledgeable staff while others do not. Just something that comes with the territory.

 

The Gander Mountain in Richmond closed while the Gander Mountain in Fredericksburg is still open. Stores were about 40 miles apart. But BPS and Green Top were too much for the Richmond store so it closed.

 

Filing for bankruptcy will allow the company to reorganize and close some of the unprofitable locations and legally break the leases. Hopefully the chain will come out of the bankruptcy smaller but stronger.

 

Time will tell.

 

 

[RMax]

1 hour ago, N Florida Mike said:

I went to a GM once.It was a smaller store and almost no customers.Looked around for a little while and Didnt buy anything.

The first time I went to a BPS , my wife put up with it for 3 HOURS and finally asked if we could please leave.She almost had to drag me out .

I see a little negativity on here with BPS.Whats up with that?I have had nothing but good experiences there.

I also really like Academy .Great selection and lower prices .

Dicks has less of a selection,but they often have specific baits I can't find elsewhere .

 

I am also wondering whats up with the negativity towards BPS.  Sure, they're a little more expensive than TW but you get hands on experience with them and usually their workers are pretty knowledgeable.  My only problem with them is that they really seem to be concerned with selling their own brand and about 40% of their sales aren't actual sales.