Gander Outdoors?

[Ratherbfishing]

Saw one of these (didn't go in) in Indianapolis area last weekend and there is, apparently, one in Springfield, IL.  Is this an offshoot of Gander Mountain?  I thought Gander Mountain went belly up.  Same store, different name?

[Scott F]

Gander Mountain was purchased by Camping World. They re-branded some of the old Gander Mountain stores as Gander Outdoors with an entirely different inventory.

[slonezp]

Gander Outdoors will soon go the way of its predecessor. Camping World should have changed the name rather than try to revive a failing brand.

[Bdnoble84]

I’ve been to the rockford location since it was rebranded and wasnt really impressed by anything i saw. 

[markedman]

The one near me isn't very busy, but has the biggest fishing gear selection in town (York, PA). BassPro is 40 miles from them and Cabelas is 75 miles from them. Their only competition in York is Dicks Sporting Goods and Walmart.

 

You can get some decent deals occasionally if they have something on sale and then you happen to have a Good Sam membership for another 10% off.

 

Don't think they are busy enough to survive though.

[Ratherbfishing]

When I spoke to employees at our (then) Gander Mountain, they said their only real money maker was the firearms department while the rest of the stock was just expensive overhead.  I hope Gander Outdoors uses a different business model-otherwise, they, too, will go the way of the dodo bird.

[The Bassman]

Too bad to see other guys noticing the same things I have. Our one store in Greenfield is always deserted and the Castleton store closed last year supposedly because of a zoning issue. Camping World wanted to display RV's. Would agree with @slonezpas to their future.

[gbassman519]

The  one in Fredericksburg, Va. is the same !ALWAYS Deserted !look for it to go under  in about a  yr.

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, gbassman519 said:

The  one in Fredericksburg, Va. is the same !ALWAYS Deserted !look for it to go under  in about a  yr.

I was reading something about them a while back, IIRC their business model doesn't require the Gander Outdoors portion of the business to make money. But I think you are right, at some point they'll get tired of pouring money into it. Call me crazy, I like my shops to make money.

[NorthernBasser]

The 2 Ganders "near" me have a great selection. Better than the 2 Cabela's that are near me. They carry a lot of stuff you have to go to TW to get. Sadly, Gander/Overton's online store is pathetic. Not sure what they're thinking. 

[Gorris317]

The Gander Outdoors near me carries a lot of the baits, tackle and line I use. I go there to pick things up when I need them. They have a crap selection of rods and reels though. Its the only place within 40 miles of me that carries stuff besides wally world. Like others have said no one is ever in there. 

[keagbassr]

On 7/25/2019 at 1:07 PM, markedman said:

The one near me isn't very busy, but has the biggest fishing gear selection in town (York, PA). BassPro is 40 miles from them and Cabelas is 75 miles from them. Their only competition in York is Dicks Sporting Goods and Walmart.

 

You can get some decent deals occasionally if they have something on sale and then you happen to have a Good Sam membership for another 10% off.

 

Don't think they are busy enough to survive though.

Can't comment on gander as we don't have them up my way but if i lived in york id be spending my time and money over at SFT. 

[Alec McMillan]

I bought a rifle from a Gander Outdoors in Alabama one time. Wasn't very busy at all. Had a pretty sad selection of fishing gear. Never seen one since then, I also thought they went out of business.

[BassinCNY]

The Cicero store is the best in Central NY in my opinion. They carry what I like to fish. I hope they stick around.

[Mikeltee]

I live in Indy. I believe it went out of business just as fast as they changed the last name of the store. Its ashame because when it was Gander Mtn this store was their premier firearms store in the country. It was the Costco of guns. When they first transitioned to this model, they gave you a ticket like a meat deli and the wait was more than an hour to get help at the counter. They had a half a dozen voting booth type things that people filled out their paperwork in. It was an exciting time as a gun enthusiast that the business could be that good. Once ammo started arriving again on big box store shelves and online it slowly went downhill and they could no longer afford the mortgage.

 

That store has been many different outdoor stores over the past decade. The only one that did well was Dicks. It did so well they moved across the street to the mall And opened a handful more in Indy. This pretty much solidified the demise of all other outdoor stores except for a few mom and pop places. Such ashame but this is America. Buy more, pay less, put everyone out of business. Get called a monopoly and make some big campaign contributions and prosper.

[Just_Fishin]

There is one in Kingston NY. I went a couple times over the last couple of months. They have a good fishing sections. Lots of brands. What I did notice their prices are a lot cheaper now compared to what they were when they were Gander Mtn. 

[RAMBLER]

The one near me has a fairly good sized tackle shop, but, it's a mess.  I found the same lure in three different places, aisles apart.  They have several big RVs and at least a half dozen campers in the place.  The first thing you see when you walk in the door is special order counter for camper/RV parts.  It's out of the way and not really easy to find.  There were very few people in the store the last time I went in there.  I really don't much care one way or the other whether or not they survive.  The last time I went there is probably the last time I will go there.

[zell_pop1]

The one in Lafayette, Indiana always seemed busy as did the Sportsman's Warehouse it replaced but both shut down. They did once have like 100 Shimano Citica Es on clearance for $89.99 and I bought a few,  but they also had Hummingbird 700 series sonars on display at full price 4 years after they were discontinued ..it just wasn't run well but had some good deals at times.

[HoosierFisher]

 

On 7/25/2019 at 1:14 PM, The Bassman said:

Too bad to see other guys noticing the same things I have. Our one store in Greenfield is always deserted and the Castleton store closed last year supposedly because of a zoning issue. Camping World wanted to display RV's. Would agree with @slonezpas to their future.

Reminds me of when they built a new Galyan's store in Greenwood and it was closed shortly after it was taken over by Dick's. A lot of "sporting good" stores are now more appealing to soccer mom's than hunters/fisherman. 

[Scott F]

12 minutes ago, HoosierFisher said:

 

Reminds me of when they built a new Galyan's store in Greenwood and it was closed shortly after it was taken over by Dick's. A lot of "sporting good" stores are now more appealing to soccer mom's than hunters/fisherman. 

That's because the number of hunters and fishermen are declining, there isn't a lot of profit in fishing gear, and there is a lot of profit in clothing.

[FishTank]

I live in Indy and I liked the Gander Outdoors better than I did Gander Mountain.  They had a good staff of fisherman and hunters.  They had business but just not enough in their main area, camping. 

 

As far as Gander Mountain goes, I heard this from multiple people (but can't confirm it myself) that they went under due to the contracts they had with gun companies.  They were required to carry certain guns as certain prices at high quantities with a low profit.  This was in hope of selling everything else to go with it, at higher profit margins.  This did not happen either.   

[Deleted account]

On 7/30/2019 at 12:03 AM, Scott F said:

and there is a lot of profit in clothing.

Yup, the mark ups for soft goods are many times that of hard goods, and of those, staples lead the pack, and the buying patterns are quite predictable, and the products are less perishable. Cha Ching!

One of my best customers bought himself one or two new top of the line bike every year, he was a gloves rep (just gloves, that blew my mind), and worked on draw/commission. His only rule was don't talk price when he came around with the wife (and 3 kids) in the BMW.

 

[Rpratt]

I live near St Louis and I noticed last week that Camping World (where the RV's are sold) changed its name to Gander World. That kind of surprised me. The Gander Mountain that we had is now a car dealer, but I think they did reopen a Gander Outdoors in St Louis (Chesterfield). 

[KraskiBass]

We had a Gander nearby and they close down about a year ago....it was always empty the times I've visited the store...

[markedman]

On 7/28/2019 at 4:57 PM, keagbassr said:

Can't comment on gander as we don't have them up my way but if i lived in york id be spending my time and money over at SFT. 

I actually live about half way between York and Hanover. I prefer to spend money at a bait and tackle shop in Hanover. B&B Lures has an excellent selection, reasonable prices and great advice. 

 

I much prefer to buy my stuff at a local bait shop whenever I can.