Well, folks, it looks like Gander Mountain is looking to do some major restructuring. The Sporting Goods franchise had to file for bankruptcy to allow itself to adjust for profitability. The plain speak: Gander was looking for a bid, immediately found none, and went on to try to save the ship by jettisoning some under-performing stores.
Now, we got word that Camping World Holdings, Inc. has acquired Gander Mountain. This may help save the stores and keep doors open.
“The structure of our deal provides much flexibility and will not only allow us to refine the inventory selection and select only those stores which are profitable, or we believe have a clear path to profitability, but will also allow us to immediately offer our comprehensive portfolio of services, protection plans, products and resources to the existing Gander Mountain and Overton customer base and in stores in which we elect to operate,” Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis said in a statement. “While we are obligated to assume a minimum of seventeen leases, our designation rights will allow us to operate stores and retain employees at a number to maximize profitability.”
So what does this really mean for gun owners and outdoorsmen? It means that perhaps, if this sale goes through and everything goes well, quite a few Gander Mountain stores will stay open.
Gander Mountain is a very accessible outlet that features a wide selection of firearms, firearm accessories, and optics — in addition to many other sporting and defense products.
If Gander Mountain went down, it would mean a lot more people would have to seek out their nearest gun store to find that new gun they’ve been looking for.
This seems to be a running thing with big chain franchises as of recent — especially when it comes to those that sell firearms. Firearms sales have experienced a dip since the elections were over. With no big legislation on the horizon that would seek to limit or restructure the way people use their Second Amendment rights, there’s perhaps not as much impetus for the average consumer to go out and buy that “one more gun” they’ve been looking for.
This, in my opinion, has good and bad ramifications. On one hand, it means big chain stores will have to push more of their other items OR do a bit more to offer the guns that people really want at a price they can’t turn down.
I, for one, look forward to a drop in ammunition prices. For years, we’ve had this lingering ax of legislation over our collective heads. There was a public perception in the gun community that at any time, that ax could come swinging down and make it harder to obtain ammunition, magazines, and firearms as we would normally see fit to do.
For the gun industry, it was a brief golden era. However, for the consumer, it was sheer madness.
I remember, only about a year and some change ago, going into a bigger gun store and balking at the price of cheap, bulk ammunition for my 9mm handgun and 5.56x45mm rifle. It was a real investment to go out and get the ammunition I felt I needed in order to stay in good practice with the firearms I count on for my own defense.
While I’m glad Gander Mountain is going to stay in business for the time being, it would certainly be nice to go out there and be able to get access to the firearms and ammunition that have — for too long — been a fiscally heavy move.
