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| http://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/4215918-gander-mountain-prepar... |
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Location: North Central IL USA | Bummer!!! |
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Posts: 8717
| There goes a big part of my childhood. The original store in Wilmot was like Mecca for me growing up in the 70's. Fishing lures, camping stuff, slingshots, air rifles, archery stuff, .410 shells, .22LR rounds for cheap... My first skin mount came out of that shop and it still looks good 40 years later.
Last few times I was there it was a shadow of its former self. Couldn't get someone to tell me how to get a string for an old Bear recurve, couldn't get a Marlin .22 back in business that failed to cycle right after about 10,000 rounds...
#*^@ shame it is. Some of the best gear I've owned going on 40 years came out of Gander. Some of the worst gear I've owned going on 10 years came out of Gander.
The secret to a long life is knowing when it's time to go... |
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Posts: 718
| You never know, maybe they are just going to rearrange things like GM did. |
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Posts: 897
| It's been a joke for a long time. Their employees didn't know squat about their products. Only reason I went there actually. Could luck out on ridiculous deals because of that. |
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| They may come out of it a leaner, more focused company. Any retailer is facing a tough time today. On line sales, tight margins are impacting all retailers. Sometimes, with lower debt burden, fewer stores, a retailer can make a go of it as a smaller, nimbler competitor. Or they may face too big of a climb. |
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Posts: 104
| Gander here in Washington PA is going out of business. All fishing 20-30% off right now. Flambeau Maximizer boxes for $56 etc... if anyone is in the area. Still a decent amount of stuff left and discounts to increase as weeks go on. |
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Posts: 859
Location: MN | I've will miss the cheap lures, 10 dollar suick and bulldawgs and magnum bulldawgs ect. I hope they don't close but they need no figure out what business their in. |
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Posts: 162
| Tackle Industries - 2/11/2017 8:15 PM
Hate to say it but I am surprised it too them this long to go out of business. Worst ran retailer I have seen.... you go to one store and (example ) a Bulldawg is $6.99, then at another store it is $19.99.... Now with that said, I made a LOT of money 10 years ago playing this game. Buy buy buy and sell sell sell on eBay...  I bet I made over $15k doing this over 5 years on various products.
Couldn't agree more |
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Posts: 556
| I don't really care 1 way or another on their Issue... But living west of Chicago I have a BPS,CABELAS, and Gander near me----Now without a doubt--Unless you are looking for a TEE SHIRT----Gander is a distant last place to the other 2..... As long as there is a BASS PRO and CABELAS--I don't see any need for Gander...... |
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| maybe if they merge with Sears, kame apart and Macy's they can clog the toilet. |
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| Gander Mt Guide - 2/11/2017 10:37 PM
Tackle Industries - 2/11/2017 8:15 PM
Hate to say it but I am surprised it too them this long to go out of business. Worst ran retailer I have seen.... you go to one store and (example ) a Bulldawg is $6.99, then at another store it is $19.99.... Now with that said, I made a LOT of money 10 years ago playing this game. Buy buy buy and sell sell sell on eBay... I bet I made over $15k doing this over 5 years on various products.
Hate to disapoint you, but we arent going out of buisness. Its a restructure with focus on streamlining. Both BPS and Cabelas are around after Bankruptcy, GM faced it before as well, the company isnt going anywhere.
Oh goodie, I was concerned that someone would be held accountable but as long as the creditors can get screwed over its all good! |
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Location: Waukee, IA | esox911 - 2/12/2017 8:10 AM
I don't really care 1 way or another on their Issue... But living west of Chicago I have a BPS,CABELAS, and Gander near me----Now without a doubt--Unless you are looking for a TEE SHIRT----Gander is a distant last place to the other 2..... As long as there is a BASS PRO and CABELAS--I don't see any need for Gander......
A lot of people don't live in a large city so gander is a good alternative to driving long distance to visit a multi purpose outdoor retailer. Not my absolute favorite, but I've certainly shopped there. Plus with BPS and cabelas being the same company now any competition is good competition |
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Posts: 676
Location: Wisconsin | I was working at a store during the last bankruptcy and sale to the Holiday stores. One of the VP's actually was in our store a couple months before and was talking about how awesome it was that they were expanding. All the while, we couldn't get Rapalas on the shelf because we couldn't make our bills.
(Gander sold the catalog rights to Cabelas at that time)
I don't know if the 100k "destination" store works for every location. Most ended up being large empty spaces filled with clothes, on the flip side some of the 30k stores should have been bigger (Appleton, Germantown before Cabs for example). Gun sales will probably drop off like a rock now, so all of the hype surrounding gun sales will have a negative affect on stores that pushed that like Gander, Cabelas and Scheels. All of those fishing departments have suffered over the past couple of years taking a back seat to guns. Cabelas and Bass fishing has turned into a private label oasis
Fleet also is going through some transitions but their fishing department is pretty decent. We will see how the dust settles on the entire industry over the next year or two.... |
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Posts: 1000
| they'll get streamlined and close a bunch of stores.
With that said, I hope we can keep the forum posted on closing stores this year so I can take advantage of wicked savings.... |
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Posts: 1901
Location: MN | The last few times I was in a Gander you could shoot a gun off and not worry about hitting anyone, customer or employee |
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Location: E. Tenn | Gander Mt Guide - 2/11/2017 11:37 PM
Hate to disapoint you, but we arent going out of buisness. Its a restructure with focus on streamlining. Both BPS and Cabelas are around after Bankruptcy, GM faced it before as well, the company isnt going anywhere.
Neither Cabelas or Bass Pro Shops ever filed for bankruptcy protection..
I'll also echo esoxaddict's sentiment about Gander Mt..
Edited by miket55 2/12/2017 6:17 PM
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Posts: 1220
| There's a political aspect here as well. Gander bet big on guns, and it looked like a pretty good bet not that long ago. I recall waiting an hour to get waited on to buy an LCR when I had just left Cabelas where they predicted a 2 1/2 hour wait. A lot of that was hype the NRA fanned about Obama wanting your guns. Seems nobody really wants your guns. They just want to sell you stuff. (like always) Now it's the conservatives time to have a little fun with the political system and while the NRA will still try really hard, it's pretty obvious to everybody (including Gander Mountain) that President Trump won't take your guns away. I was at SW Florida's oldest Sportsman's Show yesterday and they had concealed carry classes for $45.00 (only 90 minutes too for a permit) and they had five (5) people for the noon class. Honestly, I just sort of think we are all pretty well armed right now, and they built a few too many gun stores. Five years ago, it was cigar stores! |
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Location: Already Gone | I hate to date myself, but I still remember ordering from these good folks. I also still have and use my Model 72 Canvasback decoys....but those Vit Glodo duck calls sucked no matter what you did to them. I just remember ordering from there was a good time, no matter what.
I hope Gander makes the necessary changes, like Jeff, I remember the Wilmot location when it was a trailer. I still have quite a few items from Gander, for awhile they were the only game in town. We hope better days are ahead.
Edited by Mark Hoerich 2/13/2017 7:56 AM
(Herters Catalog from 79.jpg)
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 Herters Catalog from 79.jpg (83KB - 372 downloads)
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| Junkman - 2/13/2017 5:55 AM
There's a political aspect here as well. Gander bet big on guns, and it looked like a pretty good bet not that long ago. I recall waiting an hour to get waited on to buy an LCR when I had just left Cabelas where they predicted a 2 1/2 hour wait. A lot of that was hype the NRA fanned about Obama wanting your guns. Seems nobody really wants your guns. They just want to sell you stuff. (like always) Now it's the conservatives time to have a little fun with the political system and while the NRA will still try really hard, it's pretty obvious to everybody (including Gander Mountain) that President Trump won't take your guns away. I was at SW Florida's oldest Sportsman's Show yesterday and they had concealed carry classes for $45.00 (only 90 minutes too for a permit) and they had five (5) people for the noon class. Honestly, I just sort of think we are all pretty well armed right now, and they built a few too many gun stores. Five years ago, it was cigar stores!
I don't think Gander will be the only one feeling the impact of the end of fear mongering about the government taking your guns. A few years ago Fleet Farm in Fond du Lac could not keep 9mm or .223 ammo in stock. People were buying cases of it as it came off the truck. The department manager told me he kept ordering and they kept buying. He predicted that at some point it had to slow. Smith & Wesson stock has dropped since the election. The Obama years were the best in their history. I will bet the NRA will feel the pinch as well. They were practically giving away memberships because they had so much money coming in from manufacturers. Hysteria sells guns. The reality was the Obama never made any serious attempt to restrict firearms but the fear mongers had people convinced that he was lulling people into a false sense of security, then the feds were going to pounce and take away all the guns. The manufacturers played gun owners like a fiddle. |
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Location: Chisholm, MN | Still a good idea to stock up on guns and ammo with the way things are going these days! |
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Location: Des Plaines, IL | Probably better off with a compound bow, arrows, and bottled water. Easier to retrieve and reuse arrows than make bullets.
Just imagine if water gets privatized! Honestly, it should be the most expensive resource on Earth, being that every human being needs it. |
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| dbach17 - 2/13/2017 8:57 AM
Probably better off with a compound bow, arrows, and bottled water. Easier to retrieve and reuse arrows than make bullets.
Just imagine if water gets privatized! Honestly, it should be the most expensive resource on Earth, being that every human being needs it.
The late Lee S. Dreyfus, former governor of WI would have agreed with you. Back in the late 1970s, early 1980s the south western states proposed a pipeline from the great lakes to bring water to that region. This was at a time when oil had taken a big jump. Dreyfus said fine, 'you can have a barrel of water for two barrels of oil. We can get oil from the middle east, you can't get water any place'. It did lead to the formation of the Great Lakes commission made up of reps from the states surrounding the great lakes and Canada. |
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Location: MN | The manufacturers never played gun owners, they were simply responding to demand. And even as late as right before the election were building inventory based on the thought killary would win. So most of them are heavy now, and there will likely be plenty of availability and some deals to be had. |
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| Gander is building a big new store in Cedar Rapids. I wonder how this news will affect that? |
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| I spent my first paychecks at gander mt as a kid in Kalamazoo, MI. I worked in a greenhouse, Id get paid in cash, ride my bike over to Gander and blow the whole thing. The first item I ever "saved" for was 3 paychecks to get a quantum baitcaster. I was getting to know the people there pretty good and when I told them I had to wait until next week to put line on it they put the line on for free. It was a great place. Now the selection is hit or miss for fishing, but boy are there some bargains on lures there sometimes! |
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| I'd like to see all the big box retailers re-organized. Instead of driving to whatever-place-is-closest (we have at least 10 within 30 miles) and having a marginal selection of everything to choose from, I'd drive the extra 15 minutes to go to a place that has everything fishing, or every kind of outdoor clothing, or everything hunting...
If that were a viable business model I'm sure they'd be doing it already, but it sure would be nice to have their product lines be a little deeper. I can buy a cooler or a pair of waterproof boots anywhere, but there's nowhere where I can go and look at 20 of either product.
I know brick and mortar retail establishments are hurting right now, but doesn't anybody want to actually put their hands on a piece of gear before they buy it?
Edited by esoxaddict 2/13/2017 12:52 PM
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| Propster - 2/13/2017 9:49 AM
The manufacturers never played gun owners, they were simply responding to demand. And even as late as right before the election were building inventory based on the thought killary would win. So most of them are heavy now, and there will likely be plenty of availability and some deals to be had.
Just as soda producers create demand by running ads making it seem like you can't live without a cold diet coke, gun manufacturers do not sit back and wait for customers to ask for guns, they create demand, through ads touting the latest and greatest, or as in the last 8 years, giving to groups like the NRA that spread fear about the government stopping or greatly reducing gun sales. Smith & Wesson did great during the Obama years but without that fear mongering their would not have been the demand. |
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Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | esoxaddict - 2/13/2017 12:49 PM
I'd like to see all the big box retailers re-organized. Instead of driving to whatever-place-is-closest (we have at least 10 within 30 miles) and having a marginal selection of everything to choose from, I'd drive the extra 15 minutes to go to a place that has everything fishing, or every kind of outdoor clothing, or everything hunting...
If that were a viable business model I'm sure they'd be doing it already, but it sure would be nice to have their product lines be a little deeper. I can buy a cooler or a pair of waterproof boots anywhere, but there's nowhere where I can go and look at 20 of either product.
I know brick and mortar retail establishments are hurting right now, but doesn't anybody want to actually put their hands on a piece of gear before they buy it?
Or it's possible that lots of people put their hands on things IN the store, then search the interweb for that same product at a much better bargain?
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| Slamr - 2/13/2017 2:15 PM
esoxaddict - 2/13/2017 12:49 PM
I'd like to see all the big box retailers re-organized. Instead of driving to whatever-place-is-closest (we have at least 10 within 30 miles) and having a marginal selection of everything to choose from, I'd drive the extra 15 minutes to go to a place that has everything fishing, or every kind of outdoor clothing, or everything hunting...
If that were a viable business model I'm sure they'd be doing it already, but it sure would be nice to have their product lines be a little deeper. I can buy a cooler or a pair of waterproof boots anywhere, but there's nowhere where I can go and look at 20 of either product.
I know brick and mortar retail establishments are hurting right now, but doesn't anybody want to actually put their hands on a piece of gear before they buy it?
Or it's possible that lots of people put their hands on things IN the store, then search the interweb for that same product at a much better bargain?
That is what almost put Best Buy out of business. Now they try and get exclusive rights to certain models so that you can't look at a TV in the store, then search the web for the best price. |
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