doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Gander Mountain May File For Bankruptcy

Gander just closed one of the two stores here in the Denver area. They advertised the close-out for months with big discounts. I stopped in a couple of times and never found anything marked down. Didn't buy a thing and walked out.

I have two within 90 minutes of me. As several others have stated they are dark, dingy, very few used guns and a lack of knowledgeable staff. The Toledo, OH store had a Fox Sterlingworth 12 Ga. ejector gun that was just a shooter, I mean a shooter and they had it priced over $2K and held firm. Sad to see them go under but the strong survive in any business/industry! To much competition by good local shops and Cabela's and BPS to be marginal.

I had to write a letter and tell them what one of their side by sides was worth to get them down on the price. It worked. Our small t3 store has more customers in it than them. I shop usually from cabelas

A shame as they were the first place I purchased from when I started hunting, everything from the catalog.

I won't miss them if they go under. I wouldn't miss Bass Pro much, either. Cabela's I'd probably miss a little, and it concerns me that BPS owns them, now.I do most of my mail order shopping with Mack's Prairie Wings and my in store with Academy. Both of them are super to do business with, and both have good prices.

The one I miss is the old Herter's. Man, I loved that huge catalog when I was a kid. I have a pair of Herter's neoprene chest waders (from the later, downsized company) that I handed down to my grandson, Jackson, that have to be 25 years old. But, missing the old Herter's is probably more nostalgia than substance.

SRH

When Herters downsized they had a store/decoy factory in Beaver Dam Wisconsin...just a few miles from the Horicon marsh....I shopped their quite a bit....still have a dozen of their burlap wrapped mallard dekes NIB....They had some great outside tent sales in the late spring each year and again in the late summer.....they had duck calling contests, food, more like a big hunters pic-nic....have a couple Ganders within 6/7 miles...and a Cabela's around 12 miles.....but they sort of leave me cold....

Our Gander has some good people working in the firearms dept. They really do try hard. There hands are tied though. Corporate forces them to stock and display things that don't sell in our area, and limits things that do. I guess they want all stores to be the same.
They do take a beating sometimes. Local bottom feeders tend to unload there bad guns there. They wait until the less experienced guys are working then outright lie about what they are selling. Gander ends up with a high priced bad gun.

Doesn't surprise me, their prices are typically ridiculous. I do hate to see any outdoor store have troubles though.

Mary and I visited the store in Chesterfield, Missouri a while back. We were nearly alone in the store. We looked over the guns and related items for an half an hour before anyone showed up in that area. Then they didn't make any effort to ask if I was interested in seeing anything. We walked out without buying anything.

I've been in Gander Mountain near Minneapolis and didn't have a problem. In fact I bought a Stoeger coach gun I wasn't even looking for because the wood was extra nice and the price was right.

35yrs ago when they only had a catalog and warehouse with a service counter in Wilmont,WI they had the best prices on reloading components. We would drive up from south of Chicago to load up. Then they sold the catalog business to Cabelas and opened stores with the highest component prices. 15 years ago when their was not one or two in every town I bought most of my clothes at the store in Wausau,WI and they had a good used gun department with a few racks of shooter doubles and an occasional nice gun. Then about the time they layed off most of the full time help they opened stores all over the the place and switched the shirts to plaid polos. Now minimal used guns, nothing I won't to buy and the employees out number the customers.