Sportsman's Warehouse

[coloradokevin]

Well, this has been good, as a few posts have confirmed my suspicions!

One of the rumors I've been hearing is that Sportsman's Warehouse hasn't been paying their suppliers, and therefore can't get more inventory. For a good while I suspected that the problem was due to the election, but clearly this goes well beyond election scares now (many of the other stores now have inventory, and sportsman's is still wiped out.

They used to have the best reloading section in the Denver metro area, and now they have empty shelves. Guns are also stripped to the bare minimums, and I couldn't even find a Remington 870 or Mossberg 500-590 in the store last night.

 

[Just Jim]

The one in Salem Or is well stocked in clothes and boots etc. For handguns I guess they have about 25 total and about one third the rifles and shotguns they used to have.

I suspect that even though they may have been bought out there might be a credit problem with the banks. Now that government is moving into the banks one has to wonder if the banks will refuse credit to the gun companies.

jj

 

[desert gator]

I am looking to purchase my first gun, and I have found that on allot of models SW is way cheaper, sometimes 60-80 dollars cheaper than Cabelas. Heres the catch though, I have called every SW in Utah and Arizona and none of them have any of the top 3 guns on my list, and they dont know when they will. They tell me they dont put in specific orders for guns, rather they just put on the shelf what is sent to them. Well Cabelas has all three guns that I am looking for, but is asking as much as $80 dollars more than SW on one of them.

 

[Furncliff]

Last month my wife was in Grand Junction Co. and I asked her to pick up some things at S/W ... nada, nothing. I was there yesterday and I was shocked. The shelves of ammo and reloading supplies were a vast waste land. My local sporting goods store has higher prices but has most of what I need and they're great to deal with.

 

[Mainsail]

…and it doesn't seem like they are making any effort to restock items.

So it’s your contention that they have given up on the business model of making money merely to annoy you? Seems a little narcissistic to me. I’ve seen them put stuff on the shelf only to have it snapped up before they’ve even turned away. That’s the way it is right now. I was in Cabela’s yesterday and was genuinely surprised to see a whole brick of Winchester large pistol primers; they've been out for months whenever I visited. I bought them all.

 

[GeezerwithGuns]

I used to shop at the SW on Wadsworth. Even bought a couple of shotguns and some holsters there a couple of years back. I also used SW as a source for bulk ammo as they had pretty competitive prices and good selection. Now they have absolutly nothing. They have several empty display end caps that used to be stacked high with ammo that are empty now. The back wall where they display handguns is probably only 20% full.

I think that they are quietly going out of the gun business. This store is actually located within the Denver city limits, so they couldn't have benefitted by the recent surge in sales of black rifles since by Denver law, they can't sell them (Colorado is a home rule state).

With the new ownership, I'm not sure that they even will try to stay in the firearms market. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually went out of business altogether. Without the guns, they are just another REI, and we've already got one of those only a couple of blocks away.

Oh well. Green Mountain Guns is only about 5 miles away and their business is going crazy.

 

[Texas Moon]

It's the same in the store in San Antonio.
Shelves been bare for months.
Way back when they opened I stopped in several times for reloading supplies.
I was shocked at what they wanted. The prices were way out of line.
They used to have a decent selection of new firearms but even that is pretty lean now except for high end Zumbo Fudd long guns.

 

[Runningman]

The Sportsman's in Reno has been that way for years.

I used to stop by the one in Reno when I visited. I noticed the same thing.

They built a Sportsman's warehouse by me about 2 1/2 years ago. Filled it up with all kinds of goodies. I swear it seems like very little restocking took place in the gun dept since they opened. As an example they have been out of a particular Warne ring mounts for more than two years. More than a few of the brass bins in the reloading section have been empty more than a 1 1/2 years. Yet the clothing section always seems to be well stocked. The only reason I even stop by my SW once in a while is they are less than a 1/2 mile from my local gun dealer.

 

[average_shooter]

Went to SW in Woodbury, MN yesterday, thay have a LOT of .40 S&W, but pretty much zero 9mm, .45 ACP, .38 or .357 (except the premium hunting stuff in .357), or 7.62x39.

I've noticed the same at that store. Lots of .40 S&W and .22-250. Not much of anything else. Last time I was there a week or so ago I ended up buying the last couple boxes of 00 and #4 buckshot too.

But the guys behind the counter have been great to deal with and honest, to the best of my knowledge, so I keep going in hope of finding the reloading supplies I've been looking for.

 

[Redneck with a 40]

Everytime I go into our local Sportsmans Warehouse, they don't have the powder I'm looking for, Unique, Universal, Blue Dot. I've just about given up on them, its pretty much a joke right now.

 

[ChefJeff1]

Twin Falls Idaho

The one here in twin falls has virtually 0 pistol ammo! No reloading supplies to speak of and their gun inventory is wadown. It used tobe that the rifles were 5-6 deep in the racks, now there is 1-2 plus some straggglers. Same with handguns. However, they have a ton of clothes. I give up going there and leaving empty handed.

 

[Legionnaire]

I was in the SW in Pgh yesterday; looked like they had a good selection of firearms, but the ammo shelves were pretty sparsely stocked. Didn't even have much in the way of .22 ammo. Hope they get the cash flow situation settled soon.

 

[ldyates]

The SW that used to be here ran that way as well. Trying to be the Walmart/Dell of inventory control, but lack the technology and SCM to get there.

If you are just now noticing this; then my guess is that a "store closing" sale may be around the corner. Our store went from low inventory, to no inventory in a matter of weeks then they shut it down. Terribly unfortunate because I liked that store better than BPS or Cabelas.

I do hope they open a new one around Dallas someday.

 

[devildog66]

It is a shame to see the state of what this store has become. In times past they had the most extensive inventory combined with the best pricing. Their prices came darn close to WM but with a bazillion more sporting items to choose from. I like to look around at Gander Mtn but they can get stuffed given how much more the goods cost at that store. I'd rather have less glitz, better price, and comparable inventory.

 

[X-Rap]

Take a look at the store maps for Cabelas, Pro Bass, Gander, Dicks, SW. In the last 5 BOOM yrs there have been an explosion of Sporting Goods store being built and the are begining to suffer from the Starbucks Syndrome only there are many more companys involved.
In Denver afaik they have never built the Cabelas that was planed but they have many of the other big 5 or 6 stores. I expect to see a major reorganizing in all of the big SG stores and maybe one of the big 2 Cabelas/Pro Bas to fold. SW if it can get capitalized and hold their stores in markets that don't have the big competition should make it.
What kind of store would fit into one of the big Cabelas or Pro Bass?

 

[Kind of Blued]

I go to the Thornton store and have noticed this as well. I guess the "buy-out" news makes sense, but I really can't understand the logic of letting a company tank while you go through the process of buying it...

 

[heavyshooter]

They are bone dry here as well. They don't even have .22 ammunition. I asked one of the guys in the store what was going on and he said that they are still trying to recover from the "Obama Rush." Much of their inventory is accounted for before it gets to the store so they are having trouble restocking.

 

[xx7grant7x]

i just wanted some .22lr .....

 

[mjkten]

I have heard that other stores are also having trouble keeping their shelves stocked. It seems with the government at war with business, that everyone is waiting to see what happens next. Of course, the OP said the shelves were empty at SW, but he only meant shooting supplies. Hey bud, thats the situation everywhere, from gun shops to Wal Mart. Get what you can if you can find it.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I haven't been since just before Christmas, but at that time the one in Coon Rapids MN was well stocked with everything. Wait, they did not have the Bowie knife I wanted and did not know when they would get it. But they had plenty of ammo, loading supplies, handguns and EBRs. I even bought a cane made from a buffalo penis for my grandfather

 

[brandnew]

I went by the SW in portland oregon and the whole reloading section looked like a ghost town. Only primers available were for shotgun. Nuts man.

 

[RedAlert]

I don't know if the Canadian buyout or finances are the root cause or not. I do know that at my local Sportsman Warehouse, the shelves of rifle ammo are low, pistol ammo in almost bare. Pistols are on "reserved for pre-orders" and the rifles and shotguns are well stocked. When the pistols arrive, those folks who got on a waiting list get first dibs. I was lucky a couple of weeks ago and got my Kahr PM-40, because the guy who pre-ordered, changed his mind.

I think the largest part of this issue is the amazing demand by citizens who suddenly have swamped the supply system. Sort of like the hoards who gut a grocery store as soon as they hear of a shortage on tomatoes and the like.

For the record, the sales folks are surprised by the overwhelming run on CCW class of weapons.

 

[CoRoMo]

Anyone know what has been going on with this place lately?

Let me fill you in on something.
An anti-gun liberal was elected to the office of president. That caused a nationwide panic to purchase all things firearm, so as to acquire the very things he (the POTUS) will try and ban. This includes the items you listed as being out-of-stock at your local store. All clear now?

My local S.W. has experienced the same thing. They order in their merchandise, and it flies right off the shelf. Their ammo isle looks a little better these days, but the important stuff doesn't stay on the shelf for more than a day.

 

[GEM]

The Cabela's up the road from San Antonio is reasonably well stocked.

One SW here folded - they picked a bad demographic. The other is, as mentioned, real low on stuff. However, the Academy across the street and down the road has things.

Probably, they are going the way of the Oldsmobile. Too bad - they were nice stores for awhile.

 

[ldyates]

^^^ +1

Liberals in charge is not the issue. Plenty of goods at others stores, but not at the SW a few months before it closed up. They also picked a bad location in DFW that was hard to access which did not help the cause.

New cash and leadership may help, but it does no good to open a store only to have the customers leave without buying anything. Reduce the number of products and cost followed by smaller stores in better locations seems to make sense.

The 121 corridor is wide open with little competition... come back to DFW SW.