Gander Mountain will now be known as Gander Outdoors.
Gander Mountain’s bankruptcy came as no surprise to firearm owners. I saw this meme circulating on social media last week, and based on the comments under S.H. Blannelberry’s recent article, I’m not the only one who’s been disappointed by the company’s prices.
But that’s all about the change, according to Gander Mountain’s new owner Marcus Lemonis.
Lemonis’s company, Camping World Holdings, purchased Gander Mountain’s assets in a bankruptcy auction earlier this month. Lemonis has been posting updates on his Twitter account, and he says he plans to rebrand Gander Mountain under the name “Gander Outdoors” and price firearms more competitively.
Lemonis wants 70 store locations to remain open, according to a separate announcement he made on Periscope. Employees will have to re-apply to Gander Outdoors, and the new owner says he won’t allow a store to remain open unless he sees a “path to profitability.” But employees will have an opportunity to continue working at the same location, and Lemonis has been responsive to questions on Twitter.
What do you think of the new name?
Lemonis also mentioned that his company bought Gander Mountain’s assets and leases, but not the inventory, which was purchased by a separate group of liquidators. Lemonis plans to purchase new inventory, and hopefully this move will allow him to better control revenue and prices, especially firearms prices.
In response to a question about firearms being sold at Gander Outdoors, Lemonis tweeted that firearms have historically represented the company’s “biggest category” and that they “won’t go away.” Even more promising, Lemonis mentioned that his new company’s prices would be better than his predecessor’s.
Time will tell if the new Gander actually becomes a competitive place to purchase firearms.
Firearm owners are no doubt hoping Lemonis sticks to his resolution. The firearms and ammunition prices at Gander Mountain alienated a huge section of its target audience, but if Lemonis can regain the trust of the 2A community, he’ll give firearms enthusiasts yet another solid option for purchasing new and used products.
Be sure to check out Lemonis’ Twitter account for breaking updates. The new Gander Outdoors owner does a nice job responding to former Gander Mountain employees who are wondering whether their store will remain open. Last week he posted an incomplete, updated list of those stores, though he clarified that it has not been finalized.
The one Gander store that was close to me closed. I bought a Ruger LC9 there on sale before I found out that Lemonis didn’t want me in his store because I support Trump! Never again!!
The new owner, Marcus Lemonis, has publicly stated that if you are a Trump supporter that he wants you to not shop in his stores.
OK…
What a wonderfully stupid idea!
Trump supporters are not just half of the country, but a sizeable percentage of customers of such a business.
Gander Outhouse will also go down the drain. Can’t possibly make that much money selling binoculars to libtard bird watchers.
LOL!
I hope the new company will be pricing firearms and ammo more in line with everyone else in the country. I’ve found the sale prices at Gander are higher than the normal prices at many local shops. The sale prices on ammo are absurd. I price guns and ammo there just to see how much I’m saving elsewhere. We’ll see!
I went to the WV store the other day and found their prices with 20% off were still remarkably high compared to the big store a couple blocks away !!!
Example ; box of 9mm federals at
Gander Mtn. was 23.95 with the 20% ..
Down the road the exact box was 16.95
Big Fifference !!!!!
Several years ago, I approached the managing assistant assigned to the gun counter at our local GM and asked how much does GM charge to ship a handgun. I gave him the ship to address and zip code, and he came back with an estimated price of $45. So, the following morning, I brought the gun and FFL holders address and pertinent information to GM and asked them to ship the firearm. Cost to ship? $75.00! And that’s only one of several poor performances I personally experienced at GM. No tears here regarding their demise.
I’ve always found the big sports stores a great place to shop. I love just walking around and checking out the things you see in ads, catalogs, and on-line. Holding items in your hand and seeing them up close provides information that other media can’t compete with. We have Cabela’s, Gander Mtn., and Dick’s Sporting Goods locally. Plus several excellent “mom&pop” individually owned gun shops. I purchased eight guns over the last two years….one from Cabela’s, a rifle that no one else had, and seven handguns, all from local gun shops. I like Cabela’s for accessories, reloading stuff and other gear and I like Dick’s for shoes. I rarely bought anything at Gander. I did buy four $10.00 shirts from Gander Mtn’s closing sale. One revolver that I purchased locally was “Clearance Priced” at $60.00 above the local guys everyday price. Nice store and I hate seeing them go …but I won’t really miss them much.
THEY NEED TO STOCK CHEAP HIGH QUALITY FIREARMS THAT ARE POPULAR IN AMERICA. THE SKS AND IT’S AMMO. THE RUSSIAN 9MM HANDGUNS AND AMMO. THE SAIGA SHOTGUNS AND AMMO. AMERICAN, ENGLISH AND GERMAN MADE KNIVES. NO CHINESE AND PAKASTAN CRAP! DEFINITELY DO NOT SELL AMMO SECONDS( CCI, BLAZER, WINCHESTER) LIKE WALMART AND OTHER RETAILERS! STOCK RWS, GECO, SELLIER BELLOT, FIOCCHI… I WOULD RATHER BUY A QUALITY PRODUCT ONCE, THEN HAVE TO BUY A CHEAP PRODUCT MULTIPLE TIMES! A DECENT PAIR OF BOOTS UNDER A $100 WOULD BE A GOD SEND! BY THAT I MEAN A PAIR THAT WILL LAST AT LEAST 5 YEARS AND NOT ONE!
First, why are you constantly yelling here on the comments, are you angry at something?
Second, there are no such thing as factory “seconds” as far as ammunition. Major ammo makers may offer less expensive ammo made with cheaper to manufacture bullets, a lighter powder charge, and/or cheaper packaging for some of the big box stores, but the quality is always the same. There are factory “blemished” rounds available, with minor cosmetic issues, but the quality will always be first rate. No major commercial ammo maker would risk selling sub-standard ammo in this litigious society.
I say BS to that. It has long been known to anyone with an IQ over 70 that Walmarts sells a special line of cheaper ammo at a lower cost. One only has to buy it to know that.
Damn dude, ok ok! I with you but damn dude!
Camping World is just another ripoff company.
My biggest surprise was how did Gander Mountain stay in business for so long without going belly-up?
Poor pricing on firearms and poor customer service should have brought down this beast a long time ago. When I contrast my experience with GM with that of my local LGS, it isn’t even close. My local LGS is friendly, attentive, and has a great selection (guns, used guns, ammo, hunting licenses, fishing licenses, gun transfers, etc,). My local LGS’s gun prices are competitive, and the used gun prices are terrific!
Support your local gun shops!
Your local LGS? Is this local Local Gun Store hyper-local?
The Beaumont, TX store has up to 30% off items, but the guns are at most 10% off and most still over MSRP…. A lot of the clothing doesn’t even have price tags, but you can go across the street to Academy and still get it cheaper. For a going out of business sale, they still aren’t doing much business…
KMART WAS THE SAME WAY, WHEN THEY CLOSED STORES A FEW MONTHS BACK. HOWEVER, A LOT OF IDIOTS WERE BUYING, WHEN THEIR CLEARANCE PRICE WAS 2X HIGHER THAN THE NORMAL PRICE. WHEN THEY DID A GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE IN THE 1990’S I GOT A LOT OF REALLY GOOD DEALS. THIS TIME, I STOPPED BY 5X AND BOUGHT ITEMS ONLY TWICE AND SPENT LESS THAN $20.
Gander Mt or Gander Outdoors are going to have to make some huge changes on their prices to even come close to Academy . Was in the Myrtle Beach store with their big 10 and 20% off and found the prices still higher than MSRP. Usually three or four employees standing at one end of the counter bull shitting while customers wander the aisles….
Checked on the price of a SCCY on sale and found it 30% higher than other locations and still 50 dollars higher than internet with shipping and transfer fees… All their sales except for a few off brand firearms of which are mostly bait and switch items are well above MSRP… Wait and see I guess, Maybe they woke up????
This has nothing to do with GM but does with parent company Camping World,When I had issues with service on my travel trailer I found Marcus Lemonis Face Book site and sent him my and others negative reviews of the Sacramento dealership never expecting anything.He responded personally to me and contacted the service manager to resolve the problem.You sure don’t see that every day! Give this guy a chance to turn GM around.I think customers will be pleased.
Keep the same employees? Most of their issues (firearms pricing aside) were employee related. Lazy, no knowledge of what they were selling, no interest in helping the customer. There were a few exceptions but the majority…useless.
I agree. GM should re-boot from the ground up.
Agreed. Ganders root problem was the corporate management.
This affected prices, and affect the employees. My GF worked there for a year. I know all about their policies and ridiculous bs. Most employees BECAME useless (didnt care), as a result of how they were managed.
They would get robbed blind nearly every day. And the management wouldnt even look at the video cameras. It took 2 weeks of pleading for them to finally look at the tapes. And all they did, was make the employees shuffle things around, and put security tags on EVERY SINGLE ITEM. Basically doubled and tripled their workload.
It will not be hard for Lemonis to be better than Gander Mtn. It was obviously ran by a bunch of people with a bunch of degrees.
I used to TRY to buy items from GM when they were mail order only out of Wilmot, WI (’70s?) I say “try” because they never had advertised sale items in stock…non sale priced items were no bargain. Appears nothing changed over the years!
None, absolutely none, of the retailers that I deal with sell their guns anywhere near MSRP. Most sell for well below. So, now Gander Mountain is proudly announcing that the prices of their guns is being reduced to MSRP????? This is one of the main reasons that the fools went bankrupt. Lesson learned? Heck, NO! I can see where the exact thing will happen to them under their new name. Fools…
A little too much dynamite, there Butch. I believe the poster is satire, although probably not too far from the truth.
Yup….I think the joke passed just over Chas’s head.
just a heads up i go to gander mountain from time to time to buy hunting supplies but they are really high in prices especially on guns. i have hunting rifles and in need of a fairly good scope so i go there because they are liquidating and cutting prices. the problem is the same scope i looked at two months ago is twenty to thirty dollars more even with the liquidation price. so my opinion is they have not changed and are still to high in prices.
Went into the local store in Knoxville TN. a week before the closing announcement to look around I looked at the CANIK 9mm and I liked it. They were priced at $319.99 a decent value. I asked the gentleman behind the counter if that was their regular price for that gun, He said yes and showed me the pistols and the price tags stated that price nothing listed as a special or sale price. Went back the next week to purchase one (2 days after the closing was announced) and the Price went up to $400.00 After waiting with my friend for about ten minutes A man finally decided to see what I needed. I asked about the price change and told him about the other price. He said this is the price the other was a special, do you want the gun or not.. He did not even want to discus it. THAT IS WHY GANDER IS /HAS TO GO OUT OF BUSINESS.. I left the store and will never go back sale or not..
Sounds about what you expect from them, jack the price up 30% then sell for 10% off.
Thanks for the info. I have always found them to be overpriced on nearly everything.
I went into the store in Arlington Tx yesterday- 05/18 and what they call a close out sale is still higher than you can get most anywhere else – Used guns still as high as New ones in Academy.
Really disappointed, I was looking forward to some decent prices for a change there 🙁
I have to agree, when I pick up a Rem 700 used and it’s tag is HIGHER than a new one, AND it has had rust, SOMEONE has their head up their proverbial marketing fanny.
I only shopped their closeout fishing gear.
Until the bankruptcy and acquisition is final – and the liquidator has sold off the old inventory (good luck with that at these prices!) I wouldn’t bother going to GM yet. It’ll take a year or so before the changes take place, until then the liquidator is going to price as high as they can – once they start getting closer to the deadline to shut the doors they may lower the prices but until they are a week out from closing there won’t be a fire sale. Wait until then…
Yea they jacked or maintained the already over msrp prices and then discount it 5% on guns.
The guys who bought the name and locations don’t understand that most people are not going to recognize that the liquidation people are not them and they are doubling down on orice gouging.
Even their going out business prices are a sham. Big sign 30 % off, went inside. Reality guns 5%, reloading 15%, most things 10%. Truth in advertising from this company is non existent. No point in wasting time with this fake sale.
Totally agree. I have been in the market for bigger gun safe, and thought if I pick it up myself, this should be the best buying opportunity I ever get.
Nope. Didn’t see anything priced to blow it out.
Did Gander actually sell any guns? I went in…once. Used glocks were the price of new ones. New ones they were out of their minds, who would pay that?
Both times I visited the Gander Mountain store, I found the sales people in the firearms area like used car mavens. WAY to busy to assist and when they finally got done with their in group chattering, they didn’t have what I was looking for. Won’t return.
I also hope the prices on handguns come down to be more in line with competitive stores. In fact our local Gander has a large well known gun store and indoor range located within 1/10 mile apart. Guess whose prices are lower, guess who sells more weapons? It is not Gander. I also hope the sales force at the gun section increases for if you want help you have to wait in hope of being served.
All the other hunting out fitters that were in that building did the same thing. Money and profit .
What goes on with the in house credit card? Will that change as Well? Or are we just stuck paying on something we can’t use ? Not fair ….
GM was good when I was a kid with mailorder, now they are overpriced rip offs.
Marcus is not a Eddie Lampert and I have faith in him to make firearms competitive. Gander Mountain always charged msrp and it cost them. They need to get with the times or Guns America will put them out of business.
Not only were GM prices high, but they also tried to profit off from shipping. Hopefully that will change too, or they’ll still be a dead cow that hasn’t flopped over.
Inquiring minds want to know what company bought GMs merchandise inventory?
Yeah, and for how much?