Gander Mountain to file for bankruptcy

Carl N. Brown said:

Some companies use bankruptcy to reorganize and come back with a better business plan.

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This...

They did it in '99 too I think.

redneck2 said:

Their issue is that I can go there, look at the physical item, then go home and order it on line cheaper

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I do that too. I feel bad about it like I'm using them or taking advantage.

I've found the "Gander Gun superstore" on near me to have decent prices, but the plain old Gander in the other side of town is drunkenly high priced. A little over a year ago I got a Charter Bulldog .44 for $325 at the "superstore" and a few months later the regular Gander had the same gun priced at $699. I'm guessing they still have it.

Not so suprised here, they upcharge everything, I always loved going to academy more than Gander and even occasionally bass pro.

Today with internet, google and amazon, you must meet and cater to your customers' needs or you will go under. Gone are the days of 50%-100% mark up with expectation from customers to pay for "local convenience" with lousy customer service. Days of 30 minute to 1 hour drone delivery with competitive pricing and excellent customer service are coming.

Walmart just offered free 2 day shipping on 2 million items to compete with Amazon Prime. If Walmart doesn't meet/cater to their customer base, they will go under too.

It's capitalism at work and new normal reality of business.

Don't have Ganders in driving distance around here. Browsed their catalogs for many years. Always thought their prices to be higher than many other catalog/online retailers.

They built a store here ~2 years ago in an old Circuit City building. Probably a bad omen. I've been in a few times to check things out but the guns I'm interested in aren't just overpriced, they are obscenely overpriced. For the most recent pistols I had on my list they were tagged at $200-$300 more than the average online price. I'm not paying 50% extra for any amount of convenience.

In Roanoke there's a Gander and Sportsmans Warehouse. I prefer the later as the store is nicest, they have a much better reloading selection and better prices.

The Charlottesville Gander is a bland store and I won't go as far as saying it feels like a Kmart it's not far from it. They do have a decent selection of firearms and the folks are never busy and willing to ships them.

I have family in Orange and the LGS there is great. But he doesn't have much in stock so I look at Gander and buy from him.

Gander has a lot of work to do if theyre not going Chapter 7. That said the articles I've seen hint that way but don't say if this is liquidation or a reorganization.

In any case I hate to lose competition, so I hope they reorganize and make changes to be competitive

The one near me is a nice, modern store and seems well stocked with guns and related items. But despite looking at what they are selling on occasion I think I have only once bought a gun there. That one time I did pay more than I might have somewhere else, but I wanted that gun right away and they were the only one around that had it in stock. For me, the biggest advantage they used to have was the in-store gunsmith, which I made use of several times. But when they ended that service, and only offered gunsmith services available by shipping my gun to them it was no longer a convenience as well as that service being of unknown quality. I guess I won't really miss it if it closes.

45_auto said:

Sounds like you like Academy because Gander Mountain has better theft prevention?

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My bank statements would say otherwise. Good catch. Morphine brain.

Gander Mountain is one of the few big box stores I cannot recall ever going to. I have heard from plenty of friends that they have crazy high prices, so I have never stopped when I've been near one.

When I lived in Fargo there was a G.M. a few blocks away from a Scheel's superstore.....Their parking lot was always a ghost town compared to Sheel's. Upon paying them a visit I found out why......Their prices are just ridiculous! It's no wonder nobody shopped there......on the other hand, less competition is not good....even if it was from G.M.

Good riddance! I bought my first rifle there..or at least, I put my first rifle on layaway there. When I returned for it, they gave me a different rifle that wasn't even from the same factory. And it had a nice big scrape in the bluing right over the serial number. Then they escorted me out with it so I wouldn't scare the T-shirt buyers in the front of the store by carrying a cardboard box.

Hoppes Love Potion said:

Good riddance! I bought my first rifle there..or at least, I put my first rifle on layaway there. When I returned for it, they gave me a different rifle that wasn't even from the same factory. And it had a nice big scrape in the bluing right over the serial number. Then they escorted me out with it so I wouldn't scare the T-shirt buyers in the front of the store by carrying a cardboard box.

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I have to say since we are talking about being escorted with guns. I went to a large mom and pop store here in ohio 2 summers ago to see what it was all cracked up to be and i noticed several things that immediately sent me on my way. 1) used guns are not locked up nor have trigger guards on them, they can be taken off the shelf that is on the customer side of the counter and ammo is right behind them on the shelves. I was looking at some turkey calls when i see a guy who looks like he just escaped prison walking about with 2 boxes of ammo and a HD shotgun and no one batted an eye. 2) I was standing at the counter hoping someone would come help me cause i was interested in an m&p shield and an older guy asks to see a ruger single six or something of that nature and the counter guy hands it to him and walks into the back room. no trigger lock, no supervision and the customer is standing there dry firing this thing about 50 times. I get why they walk you up front with it but if its in a box and disassembled then it should be okay. out of the box might scare some people a little bit seeing how they turned into a yuppie store.

I went in one, found the prices to be outrageous and easily cheaper at several other proprietors. High prices, little selection, pass. I am not surprised they failed.

At the GM near me I went looking for .38 special ammo. They had one box of FMJ +P. I asked when they would get more in, and was told that they would replace the box on the shelf when it sold. This was years ago and haven't been back since.

Talk about corporate double-speak!
http://www.startribune.com/gander-mountain-responds-to-bankruptcy-rumors/413849013/

Largest-I thought cabelas was. Hope this new buy out doesn't close cabelas cause I don't like BP that well.

Another thing I didn't care for was when the ammo crisis was happening I called about 22lr that was in an add and shown online and told yeah we have 50 bricks. I just purchased and 22 rifle and wanted to sight it in so made the 20min ride there to be told no 22lr they don't know why he said that. About 5min after looking around I notice a guy with 2 bricks being rung up with a ar-22lr. I inquired about the ammo and was told they are to put it in the back room and sell to customers buying a gun. I said well I just bought one at dicks cause they beat you guys by almost 80$ and I want to shoot my gun. that stuck with me for years and I quit going there because of that for almost 2yrs

I seldom visit Gander Mountain any more. Don't need to. The store I visited was in Knoxville TN and I made a point of stopping even when it was out of the way when I was in town. Time passes and now we have Academy, Sportsman Warehouse, Bass Pro, Cabelas, Dicks, and of course Gander Mountain locally. I don't like to see a good store go into bankruptcy, but Sportsman Warehouse did and they came out of it.

I live in an area where I have all 4 sporting goods stores near me.

Gander Mountain
Bass Pro
Cabela's
Academy

I find Gander Mountain to be the highest on prices and less likely to have a sale. Cabela's has pretty high price but they run sales all the time and have discount coupons in the paper quite frequently.

I never go to Bass Pro for gun stuff as their gun inventory is pretty sparse. I shop at Bass Pro for fishing and apparel.

There is an Academy about 30 mins away from me, but they are building one right by me. I think Academy's prices on guns isn't all too great, but they do have a pretty good selection on ammo.

Gander Mountain shares a parking lot with Home Depot here in Montgomery. People NEVER go int GM. The prices are crazy high and there is no service at all. I went to see if they had one item I needed and was told don't carry those things and I should try somewhere else when I asked a sales clerk. I say let them crash and burn just like K-Mart did.

When I was in the market for a new Ruger Mark IV Hunter, the only place in my area and on line that had one, (I checked 5 different stores) was Gander Mountain, $749.00!!!!!

As far as I know, they still have it.

I ended up getting one from Kentucky Gun Co. for $594.00, much better deal.

It's no wonder they're filing bankruptcy.

And for your viewing pleasure. It now has a Volquartsen Trigger and slide release.

Very nice!