Gander Mountain going out of business?

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One of the reasons Gander mys prices are high is that they do not extort money from the loam govts when they open a store. Bass Pro Walmart and others get the city or county to rebate them part of the sales tax they generate. This basically covers the cost of the building removing that from their overhead. If your city won't do it they threaten to open one town over...

I agree their prices are high but there is also fundamental reason for the difference be Walmart and Bass Pro.
 
My local GM seems to price everything at full retail price. $4.99 / 100 for primers is crazy though. No powder, the local fire marshal put too many stipulations on them to carry it.
I was looking at a used 1911 there and asked about a trade-in. They offered me 50% of the going GB price and it would be in store credit only. Pass.
 
This going downhill of a formerly good company is a sign of mis-management. It happens often when executive management is hired in on a contract or a golden parachute. They try to make things look rosy short term, then bail out when things get really bad. They haven't got much to lose, with their golden parachute and all. I bet there's a guy like that running GM.

I see it happening in my company, and I just hope I can hang on until my wife gets established and I can find another place to work.
 
What they are / were doing is trying to stop tax incentives for larger competition. Gander Mountain does not build the stores that Cabellas or Bass Pro-Build. Therefore the tax incentive if sought would not be great or likely approved.

I dont disagree with the concept. Frankly, if taxes are so high it deters development, the taxes are to high, and by offering the tax incentive the government is verifying this.
 
GM started in MN and has been operating here for quite some time. The prices have always been high and they have always had a poor selection of everything but firearms. The firearms that they have are marked up an additional 15% to 20% over their local competition. They ran a price match promotion for awhile, but honesty why go through the trouble if you can just get it somewhere else cheaper in the first place?

I suspect the Holiday station stores that are owned by the same family keep GM stores going. Holiday stations are super clean super well stocked and are always running really good deals on stuff people really use. Their bread, milk and eggs are cheaper than the grocery store so they do HUGE business.

It is hard to believe that these two stores are under the same ownership...
 
Frankly I generally don't see much difference between Gander Mt (GM), Bass Pro (BP), Cabelas, toss in Academy Sports, Dicks and Sportsman Warehourse (SW) at the retail store level other than the size of the retail operation and of course selection. I don't just shop for guns or gun related items. I spend more money on fishing stuff than I do on ammunition. They are all pretty much full retail on most things. Admittedly, GM's ammunition prices are out of line and it took a couple visits to convince myself of this. I have purchased ammo at GM even at high prices. Firearm prices seem high to slightly high at all of these stores except during sales. But SW does tend to keep their firearm pricing pretty competitive regionally. But other things are full retail. For example, the current edition of the Blue Book and all of their sporting books are full retail at SW just like Barnes & Noble and Books A Million. You would think that SW would discount the BB at least 10% ($5) to get the sales, but they don't. There are enough sales at full price to justify their continuing to keep things priced full retail regardless of what internet folks think about it (Amazon price $32.64 now vs full retail, but a month ago it was full price.). SW chooses to sell 10's of copies versus 100's a copies. My guess is it is a company policy on books as they don't see the volume potential at their stores.

BP and Cabelas get huge tax incentives to open a store in a particular area. SW, Dicks, GM, and others do not. Why? BP and Cabelas stores tend to be almost tourist attractions which bring people for all over into the region to shop and they will usually do other shopping or at least buy a burger or two in the local restaurants. The revenue spreads out.

I don't think GM is going out of business. They could well close some stores as their regional store market change. But that is normal buiness practice.

Another possibility: Stores are charged for the inventory (taxes) and they often will have sales to move the product before the deadline on existing inventory taxation. They will not restock until the tax date passes.
 
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I've always used their prices to gauge the "high retail" price of an item, One time i did manage to find a good-deal on a scope thats about it though, I usually buy the 200-pack of American Eagle .223 shells at Fleet Farm for $79 and EVERY time i've been to Gander they are $99, One-time i did mention to a salesperson and he matched fleet's price but not willingly,,
Im guessing they are trying to improve their numbers at that particular store or region,getting rid of 'slow-movers" decreases the "liabilities" (money sitting on the shelf) and decreases their "assets" (available cash to procure product).
There is a term in the product sales-business called a "turn-to-earn" ratio,, too boring to go into formula and details but basically you only want to stock as much as you ABSOULTELY need to keep your customers happy,while keeping your available "cash" available to procure products or expand other product lines as needed,it's a delicate balance i deal with on a daily basis,Unfortunately most of the "big-box" stores only staff their stores with marginally-educated personel so they end up doing "closeout's" on merchandise that SOMEBODY (who probaly isint in contact with actual customers) thought would sell,
If a small gun-shop orders "extra" product to sit on their shelves,it's probaly cause they KNOW their customers and can anticipate future sales correctly
Gander is a pretty large company with a vast-range of products so, i doubt they are "going out of business"
They just over-priced themselves out of a market ie:Re-loaders are usually price-driven consumers who focus on price-point versus "customer service" ,(they usually dont need some teeny-bopper to "assist" them in selecting a product) they know what they want, will usually shop where they get best price with minimal hassle.
I DREAD going to the check-out at our local store IF i do purchase something cause there's usually only 1-register open and you may get stuck behind 3-guys buying their turkey-permit's from a marginally-educated" clerk..
 
frozen-nort',,, I used to work for "Holiday" back when our local store sold guns and fishing-equipment. I have been out of that business for 15+ years and never realized that they were part of Gander,, Our local Holiday got squeezed-out by Kwik-Trip And Super-America which i thought was weird because the "owner" (Erickson Petroleum) was the El-Presidente of Super-America stores and CFO of Holiday stores,so either way the bread-was-buttered he got RICH !! Pretty ingenious though, own 2-companies that compete in the same market,and whatever one dosent "produce" more sales you shut down and put your monies into better-suceeding stores,,, Ah yes,, and the rich get richer............
 
Flyer in Sunday Paper for GM today.

LCP 380 and Sigma 9 or 40 is only $299.00
MP15 .223 only $649
Marlin 22 795 only $99.99
There are more and as I stated they have good sale priced
 
What is an Academy? GM will honor the ad if there is one near by.
Most my Ammo and guns i get on Gun Broker or Buds. No tax and $10 transfer fee on guns..Just got a 50BMG. Over $2000 + 35 shipping and $10 tyransfer. NO TAX!!! Just got 100 rounds od 50BMG for only $248 Deliverd too...

Having managed big boxs all in all they may average 30% profit for the entire store. It goes to corperate to pay for warehousing, advertizing, and operations. Then the share holders.
If a company doesn't make profit they go out of business. Unlike the government which runs off your taxes.
 
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I think GM has become a Land's End clone and dedicates more floor space to Women's fashions than hunting and fishing supplies. For the last several years at my local GM, the reloading section has become virtually non-existent. Whenever I would go in there the same 6 cans of oddball powder would be on the shelf, and the same half dozen half empty boxes of primers were widely scattered on a shelf that used to be full. Whenever I was asked if I found what I was looking for, I'd so no and ask if they were getting more. The reply was yes, anytime now, but we can "special order" you anything you want. The prices they wanted for anything ordered was outrageous. At first I assumed it was because of the Obama scare as reloading supplies everywhere was the same. But as supplies came around to other stores, the shelves at the GM were the same as last year. Last time I was there the excuse was that they were selling out of all the current inventory in anticipation of the new store that was planned to be built. That was a year before the new store opened. I have given up on them(altho my wife still goes there for women's fashions:rolleyes:) because my LGS has a better inventory, better prices and more knowledgeable employees.
 
There are plenty of people to don't buy online because they don't have the means, or 'refuse' to buy online due to paranoia. I'm convinced that's how places like this stay in business
 
dirtykid,

My ex wife was a gm for a Holiday station. It sounds like you remember the days of the Holiday + store... They even had Holiday branded ammo for a while.

The Erickson family split it off and had a mail order business through GM for a long time. They sold the mail order business to Cabelas in 99 and IMO, that is when they began to decline in service and pricing. Remember that Cabelas was primarily a mail order outfit and GM was primarily a brick and mortar store in 99. Humungous Cabelas locations seem to be popping up everywhere now days.

A quick look at what their stock prices have done will reveal the real truth. They may be incredibly profitable in spite of the outward appearance. The numbers don't lie.... unless you are Enron, Qwest, or Worldcom. lol

I see you are fortunate enough to have a Mills Fleet Farm to shop. If they have it, it is almost always cheaper! Mills is a great outfit! They do not have the selection of firearms, but where else can you buy a birthday gift for your sister, an AK-47, parts for your tractor, and a new pair of jeans?! Long live the man mall!
 
One of the reasons Gander mys prices are high is that they do not extort money from the loam govts when they open a store. Bass Pro Walmart and others get the city or county to rebate them part of the sales tax they generate. This basically covers the cost of the building removing that from their overhead. If your city won't do it they threaten to open one town over...

I agree their prices are high but there is also fundamental reason for the difference be Walmart and Bass Pro.
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Don't really care why their prices are higher. I'll only pay more for American made goods vs. imported, or to support a true local business. When one national chain is 20% more expensive than another for the same item, that's pretty easy math.
 
Academy Sports is a grwoing store chain that I believe is mostly located in the South. I believe they are Texas based as that is where I first heard of their stores. In my state, they have built two stores in Chattanooga (two?, the business sense escapes me), store in Nashville and Memphis, and stores in places like Birmingham, Gadsden, Mobile AL where I generally visited them. I took notice of them because of 22 ammo prices which after being in their stores a few times is nothing impressive. Guns... fair prices. Ammunition prices in general are okay. I geneally visit their stores now to buy things like tennis shoes or general camping equipment, but I will always swing by the gun department. If they are busy, I get bored waiting and leave. Their clerks generally don't know their product or firearms. I would rather pay more on firearms somewhere else and get service. Honestly, I need to spend more time visiting and looking at their selection and pricing. You hear rave reviews on their pricing, but I have not discovered yet what the fuss is about.

Don't really care why their prices are higher.
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You might if ALL the stores opened up in the next town or city and there were no jobs in your area. Chattanooga TN is going through the tax issue with Amazon right now as I read in the press. I'm sort of interested. The issue is sales tax to mail order TN residents. (There is no income tax in TN and the state government is primarily financed by sales tax collections.) They already do not charge sales tax to residents of other states. The Gov granted them an exemption on collecting sales tax in exchange for them to build two distribution centers in the Chattanooga area (over a 1000 jobs). Now the legislature is kicking.... Amazon has threated to stop construction and simply leave. They would hence not pay the millions of dollars that they owe to contractors building the facilities until forced to in court and that will take years. A lot of these contractors will go out of business. It is hard ball. As a peace offering, Amazon has offered to build two other facilities in TN (believing it was political jealousy region to region, aka jobs) as they closed two facilities in the SE just recently due to the sales tax issue. They will follow through with their threats.
 
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Gotta keep your eyes peeled at Gander Mt. Most of their stuff is overpriced but some is reasonable and you can find the occasional good deal on used guns. Like the minty Marlin 444 they had last year for $299.
 
You might if ALL the stores opened up in the next town or city and there were no jobs in your area.
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Well, my town is one that did allow a Walmart, and it was tremendously helpful to the local economy. In this rural area, people are now stopping here instead of driving to the two towns 15 miles West and NW of us, and they're spending money in the local businesses that they never knew were here. Restaurants, salons, hardware store; None were hurt by WM moving in.

This county is primarily comprised of small business owners (mostly service providers like me), farmers and ranchers. There simply weren't many menial jobs to take away in the first place.

Additionally, WM employs a lot of the local kids and other folks who can't work full time a county away. And the local government is profiting from the huge revenue increase from the sales tax. It's a win-win situation.

And the next small town to the East of us? Not that it had much of an econmy to begin with, but it hasn't been hurt either.
 
I also suspect Gander is short for this world. I have a couple of guys I know that work there. Both are retiring. Bad atmosphere evidently.

I think they're in the downward spiral that Sears and K-Mart were in some years back. They get stuck in a rut of products and/or market segment that is losing popularity. When those start going down, they raise prices to maintain revenue. Sales drop, so they raise prices more to cover it.

Clothing has a HUGE mark-up, some as much as 300-400%. They can put a $100 coat on sale for $25 and still break even (less overhead). I suspect reloading stuff is maybe 20-25%. Volume is too low to cover costs.

Trouble with reloading stuff is that it's too specific. Think of the number of dies, bullets, and variety of powders you need to carry. At a local shop, you just have the surrounding area as customers. Over the internet, it's world wide.
 
Yes, it is usually a win win situation as long as certain parties don't get too greedy. There was a Cabelas planned for construction in Calhoun GA (North of Atlanta), the first in the SE. It was a very big deal. The land developers got greedy and they canceled their store construction plans claiming they did additional market surveys and so forth and the location did not justify the investment. But it was the land developers who caused them to split.

There are 19 Super Walmarts within 50 miles of me; 6 within 20 miles. Walmart does it differently. It is super secret due to land speculators. They hire a firm to handle everything including construction and lease the store and property. Few people know anything until the dirt starts being moved and even then it takes a while before it is announced that a Walmart store is being constructed.

Years ago I was doing some work in the Chicago area. I learned that there was a Gander Mt store in the area. I drove something like 40 miles out of my way to visit the store. I was excited. Bought a few things, but as I said before, it was pretty much retail retail retail. I would love to see GM being a bit more competitive every day rather than just having good sale prices.

The Sportsman Warehouse story is a bit different in terms of their bankruptcy. They lost their credit and suppliers were becoming less willing to extend credit and ship them their products for sale. Never seemed a huge issue with firearms, but it was with reloading supplies and ammunition. Their firearm selection definitely was reduced for a while. This is a store that stayed open.
 
Frozen North said:
GM started in MN and has been operating here for quite some time. The prices have always been high and they have always had a poor selection of everything but firearms. The firearms that they have are marked up an additional 15% to 20% over their local competition. They ran a price match promotion for awhile, but honesty why go through the trouble if you can just get it somewhere else cheaper in the first place?

I suspect the Holiday station stores that are owned by the same family keep GM stores going. Holiday stations are super clean super well stocked and are always running really good deals on stuff people really use. Their bread, milk and eggs are cheaper than the grocery store so they do HUGE business.

It is hard to believe that these two stores are under the same ownership...
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where I live, all holiday stores have been converted to casey's stores.
 
The only "local" Gander Mt I have visited is in Knoxville TN. It is a pretty big store. I enjoy going there, but due to their pricing, I now go when it is convenient to me rather than arranging my schedule to make time to visit. Hence I make fewer store visits in general. I was really tempted to buy a 416 Rem Ruger single shot rifle they had there... but in the end, being rational won over my impulse to own such a beast which I would probably only shoot 20 times in 10 years.

I'm sure they are aware of their maket and the impact of pricing. I suspect they sell far more fishing, archery, clothing, and boating stuff then they sell firearms and ammunition. I bought fishing stuff and some boots during my last visit. I bought some over priced Remington 41 mag ammo there just prior to the big price run up speculating that the price was about to be headed way up. I believe that Remington ammo is now something like $60 a box which I refuse to buy unless I have none available to me. I keep a good supply of 41 mag ammo and don't run out.
 
Well I admit, I have contributed to GM going out of business. A few years back I bought a lightly used Ithaca NID 20 gauge for the ripe sum of 237 dollars out the door. That was 2 whole days after I bought a Western Arms 20 gauge for 225 out the door the next store over. Inland M1 Carbine and an H&R Garand in one swing for 500.

That was the compensation I was entitled to after they turned me down for a job three different time. To think I could have been working for them instead of raping them. Just desserts.
 
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