Does no one remember that???
Gun people seem to be a forgiving bunch... there are a ton of places that should no longer exist..
Does no one remember that???
My favorite company to never forget: Treats You Like Dirt.
No matter what, I will never spend a penny with them.
I recall people saying they placed an order online for magazines or ammo, order was accepted, then later told out of stock, only to have the same item relisted immediately at a much higher price during periods of shortages.Good for you. I wish everybody would
cease doing business with them.
I can remember years back they didn't
even have a store or a mail order
business. They sold at gun shows
at real ctd prices and dealt fairly and
honestly. They even did pretty good
after opening the big store in Fort Worth.
The way I understand it, they were
bought out and the new ownership
wanted to focus on internet at the
expense of the store business, even
after the McKinney store opened
I would guess the backbreaking straw
was when that big AR magazine
shortage some years back was happening
and they would backorder mail orders
and online after taking payment, and
the stores were steadily selling the
magazines over the counter at a huge
markup over online and mail order
prices
I haven't dealt with them in a
very long time, and tell others
every chance I get
I stepped into a Gander Mountain store once back in 2015 and never went back. Their prices were outrageous even then. Plus there are a lot more and better choices in the St Louis area.
Same here, Never liked the place.
This article is from 2017
What he says about inventory is true. One in another time long ago I worked in a big retail store. It was in the middle of nowhere Iowa, Ours ads were dictated by corporate off in some big metro city. We never sold any of that stuff. All the farmers wanted was paint , hardware and gun stuff.
https://www.guns.com/news/2017/06/01/gander-outdoors-failed-gun-superstore-strategy
“Well, we are going to have a selection of handguns and shotguns that we believe serve the need of the market and have margins that are commensurate with our expectations,” he told investors last month. “But I would expect that in those stores, we’re going to see an expansion of fishing, potentially getting back into the live bait business and really digging into what the consumer wanted.”
Still, Lemonis said his main priority remains the RV business as he blamed the collapse of Gander Mountain on “poor real estate transactions” and “undisciplined inventory buying.”
Same here, Never liked the place.
This article is from 2017
What he says about inventory is true. One in another time long ago I worked in a big retail store. It was in the middle of nowhere Iowa, Ours ads were dictated by corporate off in some big metro city. We never sold any of that
My friend who worked at Gander Mountain and stayed with them in corporate when they went to Gander Outdoors said that Gander Mountain had horrible buyers and you would see them buy the same stuff for all stores vs. for the area such as ice fishing equipment in Florida and ocean fishing tackle in Minnesota, he said that really hurt them.
My goodness ain't that the flippin truth.
Not just for G M , but for all the chains
that have ever been here.
As said ^ ^ ice fishing tackle, snow
apparel, sub zero arctic rated gear, etc.
Not much "classic " fly fishing goes on
in this region, but there are a few like me
that will roll cast our cork poppers out in
small waters and load up the bream and
a few bass. The closest A store here and
the GM that used to be here both had
a couple of fly rods and fly reels but no
fly line or leaders or accessories.
Sometimes they wouldn't have things that
they should have plenty of, regional things
for sure, but would have things you'd have
to travel many hours to make use of.
Sadly everything in the nation's business
world has become like that, people running
businesses they don't really have the
qualifications to run just because they've
been a big wheel for another big company
That's why my LGSes have very little firearms or ammo on site and mostly do business via their online shop or through FFL-to-FFL purchases.I see it as a product of online shopping. Physical store retail is dying, sporting goods stores are feeling it too.
That *assumes* that if you drop the guns, all your customers will keep coming just as often. Which is not necessarily the case.no idea about Gander, but guns are typically really small margin items anyway. Couple that with supply problems even before the Russian ammo sanctions, and my guess is that it just isn't profitable enough to ship the stuff around nor to have it sit on mostly empty shelves. Shelves that could be holding more profitable items that are easier to reliably obtain.
Wow.Personally, I don’t care if all of the big shots close down....don’t need ‘em, and don’t buy from any of them. I buy only from private local gun shops. If they don’t have it, then I use something else or do without. I’ve been doing this for many years and am a happy, satisfied, well armed and supplied man.
Regulations that have changed little since 1968.....The employee made it seem like regulations on that stuff was making too hard to sell...
Losing money to gain a couple sales from gun guys vs not losing money and losing out on a couple sales.That *assumes* that if you drop the guns, all your customers will keep coming just as often. Which is not necessarily the case.
I bought probably $2k of stuff from Dick’s over the final couple of years before they went woke….camping and hiking gear, fitness equipment, kayak stuff, clothes, etc. etc. Then they ostentatiously dropped most of the gun stuff and I have never been back. Academy gets my non-shooting sporting goods dollars now, and some of the ammo dollars (split with my LGS).