I am happy to not have a dog in this hunt. Box stores serve a need but are not the best or only place to shop. If Gander Mountain fails the only one I feel sorry for are the workers and with their minimum level skill levels, they will find another retail job where they are under whelming in their knowledge base, fairly quickly. Investors and management should have done a better job with their planning. High margin, low volume is not a good business model because most over estimate the volume side. As to the Bass Pro-shop merger the more I read about it the less likely it sounds to be going forward. Like most here I long for the small mom and pop gun shops but most of them are gone.
Value is where you find it and I am more interested in quality than price these days. At my age and income, saving five bucks on a shirt, which will last more than a year is not that big of a deal. When you are 20 you want it to last forever and when you are young you don't have too much money to waste. When you are 60 you want it to be comfortable, do what you expect and last a few years so you have an excuse to try something else. I still buy a lot from LL Bean and give it to my kids after a few years use if they like it. Or just buy them one for Christmas, birthdays or any occasion that I can dream up. After all it is better to give it to them now when I can enjoy them using it than wait for them to get it after I am dead.
