Gander Mountain preparing bankruptcy filing

[eligius]

Reuters is reporting that St. Paul-based hunting and fishing chain Gander Mountain 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.
http://www.twincities.com/2017/02/10/report-gander-mountain-preparing-bankruptcy-filing/

[jeepster09]

Doesn't surprise me....they have horrible customer service. I live next to one and whenever I have gone in to store they have never had any staff working and when you did finally find someone they did not have the time a day for you. Personally I am glad to see them go. Perhaps new owner will have a clue. One day last year I went in planning on buying new canoe and when I finally found an employee he asked me if I wouldn't mind waiting till after he took his break. I left and drove a few miles to Cabela's and bought one there.

[ct9kahrtoter]

The Gander Mountain around me has some really stiff competition on gun prices. There are a number of smaller gun stores that sell way cheaper than they do, but, Gander has really inflated prices on their guns as well. This does not surprise me at all.

[ripley16]

I've found some really great deals at my local G.M. over the years. If they close I will miss them. I'd miss any gun store for that matter.

[MikeAvery71]

Interesting. My local GM charges full retail for firearms and ammo. But their customer service is good and they stock a complete line of SD and target ammo. I wonder if prices are dictated by the local income levels? The one closest to me is in a mall complex, metro area with high household incomes. Unfortunately I have to bargain shop a bit for my range time.

[Ken L]

Both Gander Mountain stores in the Denver metro closed last month. I went in during the "going out of business" sale looking for deals but they didn't really have anything worth buying. Their pricing lately on general merchandise--clothes, boots, was nothing special, and they were very proud of their guns and ammo. I don't remember buying anything there in the past year or year and a half.

[berettabone]

The Gander's around me have idiots running the asylum. There are always one or two older employees who know their stuff, the rest, not so much. They allow customers to point firearms at others, sell them the wrong holsters for their firearms, and basically have no firearm experience. I've even seen them hand a customer a firearm with out checking it.

[DavidR]

The Gander Mtn in Palm Beach county has a decent selection of ammo and accessories. Gun prices are generally high. They just remodeled the store and now have a Sig Sauer custom shop.


Dave

[Bawanna]

We don't have any Ganders around here, never been in one myself.

Guess I won't miss them. Going bankrupt don't always mean they are going out of business either does it? Sometimes it like a do over, just don't pay their bills and keep on keeping on.

We have a Cabela's with a very nice selection of guns and ammo but trying to buy a gun, especially a handgun even with a CPL can take hours. If you don't have a CPL it can take weeks. Son in Law just bought one and it was more than 3 weeks before he could pick it up. He said never again.

[340pd]

I live in MN and have watched them struggle for years. Changing store policies, managers, pricing, etc. They just can't seem to get it right. There were times past when they would run short of cash and run sales that were insane just to get money to pay bills. Terrible way to run a business. Personally around here in the Twin Cities, I would like to see a Bass Pro/Cabelas take over one of the Gander store locations in the heart of town as opposed to the far suburbs as they are now.

[JohnR]

Academy does everything better, but their gun prices are too high, too.

[marshal kane]

Never saw a Gander Mountain store while I was living in the Golden (socialist) State but would occasionally get a flyer in the mail which eventually stopped coming. Sad this is happening to a large chain store as someone in the past built this up from scratch and now it's fallen on bad times through mismanagement.

[berettabone]

I have 3 Gander's and 2 Cabela's in my area. To me, Cabela's has always been a glorified Gander. Cabela's firearm people are more knowledgeable, and so are their fishing and hunting people. Other than that, I shop online a lot, because I can get stuff cheaper. Sometimes, the wifey and I stop at Cabela's and browse, and occasionally purchase some ammo on sale.

[eligius]

Took Cabela's in East Hartford, CT over an hour to process my paperwork when I purchased my Walther PPS. I guess I was lucky.

[knkali]

Never saw a Gander Mountain store while I was living in the Golden (socialist) State but would occasionally get a flyer in the mail which eventually stopped coming. Sad this is happening to a large chain store as someone in the past built this up from scratch and now it's fallen on bad times through mismanagement.
Not sure I can say its b/c of being mismanaged. The market has changed and the cost of doing business is getting higher and higher. When the $15/hr min hits, we will see much more of this.

[Barth]

We don't have any Ganders around here, never been in one myself.

Guess I won't miss them. Going bankrupt don't always mean they are going out of business either does it? Sometimes it like a do over, just don't pay their bills and keep on keeping on.

We have a Cabela's with a very nice selection of guns and ammo but trying to buy a gun, especially a handgun even with a CPL can take hours. If you don't have a CPL it can take weeks. Son in Law just bought one and it was more than 3 weeks before he could pick it up. He said never again.

I buy mostly online.
Usually GrabaGun.
Gun arrives in a few days.
With an AZ permit Im walking out of my FFL with the gun in a few minutes.
Easy Peasy :D


There is a big Cabela's.
But their gun prices blow - LOL

[IHeartGroceries]

I've found a few good deals a Gander over the years, not necessarily on firearms. Their prices for firearms and ammunition is high, outside of the occasional promotion. I picked up my Bersa BP9 at GD a couple of years ago for $350, which I considered a very competitive price.

What's dissuasive to me is how pushy their sales people are. Picked up the Bersa and the salesman walked me through ammo, holsters, cleaning agents, safes.. he thought I surely must need to leave with something else other than the gun!

Nope.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[dustnchips]

Took Cabela's in East Hartford, CT over an hour to process my paperwork when I purchased my Walther PPS. I guess I was lucky.

I don't know how it is there, but in Wisconsin they fax it in and it could take 10 minutes or 2 hours to come back. The seller has no control over it.

[getsome]

I remember reading in the news paper a couple months ago that Cabela's had bought out Gander Mountain....I hope Cabela's will open a store in Atlanta because I hate Bass Pro's gun department, have seen very low knowledge part time sales counter guys there giving out terrible advise to buyers that don't know any better....I also dislike that they won't remove the trigger locks so you can dry fire a gun you are interested in buying....I support my LGS where I know the guys even if it costs a little more....

[Longitude Zero]

Academy does everything better, but their gun prices are too high, too.

In my area Academy is at least 15%-25% cheaper than all their competitors on firearms.

[Planedude]

I recently bought a Colt AR-15 at Academy for a small savings over the last gun show I attended. My local Gander is very odd on their gun prices. In one instance there were two Kahr CW9's in the cabinet but they had two different prices ($55 difference). I asked the counter guy about it and he just shrugged and suggested the cheaper one was the better deal...
Really??
I have purchased a few training toys for my bird dog at my local Gander Mountain, but nothing else over the last 18 months. I find them a bit weird.

I thought Bass pro bought out Cabela's???

I Like Cabela's, don't care for our Bass Pro shop much and scratch my head about Gander. That said, Academy has gotten the cash for the last two retail guns I purchased.

I'm cheap, who ever has the best price wins the cash in my wallet. No hard feelings here.

[eligius]

I recently bought a Colt AR-15 at Academy for a small savings over the last gun show I attended. My local Gander is very odd on their gun prices. In one instance there were two Kahr CW9's in the cabinet but they had two different prices ($55 difference). I asked the counter guy about it and he just shrugged and suggested the cheaper one was the better deal...
Really??
I have purchased a few training toys for my bird dog at my local Gander Mountain, but nothing else over the last 18 months. I find them a bit weird.

I thought Bass pro bought out Cabela's???

I Like Cabela's, don't care for our Bass Pro shop much and scratch my head about Gander. That said, Academy has gotten the cash for the last two retail guns I purchased.

I'm cheap, who ever has the best price wins the cash in my wallet. No hard feelings here.

Here in CT we have only two mega stores - Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops. Most of my business is with Cabela's where prices are much lower than at Bass Pro.