My two local stores around here are Gander Mountain in Mooresville, NC and Bass Pro in Concord, NC. The first is about 15 minutes away and the later about 40 minutes away.
The good about Gander Mtn.
They have a fairly decent selection on the more common stuff. They do have a fair amount of second hand rifles, even if most of them are your typical hunting selection. They have some decent kayaks too in stock and the store regularly has sales.
The bad about Gander Mtn.
The prices typically are fairly expensive. You can get the same knife from across the parking lot in other stores for $20 cheaper for instance.
The customer service is an abomination. They seem especially sexist, having seen them tell women to be quiet, hush them and walk off in the middle of inquiries. I had to resist the urge to punch the one guy who insulted my wife and cost himself a new rifle sale. I had contact with half a dozen other women who reported similar stories. For males they occasionally will come and help you, but really I seen better service at some Walmart.
In the end I prefer to go to the Bass Pro. Their customer service is infinitely more knowledgeable and polite and will usually bend over backwards to help you. I had them call around every store they had for the last pair of boots in my size that I wanted in stock and had it shipped at their expense and saved for me.
The only thing I prefer about Gander is they put rifles and shotguns on racks where you can easily see them, rather than asking for one behind the counter, they tended to have a few more choices and the occasional surplus or AR15 in stock, but really there are stores that have ridiculously better collections for sale such as Hyatt Gun Store in Charlotte, NC with similar prices and other stores do the prices for much cheaper.
