Gander Mountain - bankruptcy

I hear that Cabela's has sold to Bass Pro as well. Can anyone figure out how to make this work? Cabela's was a huge success back when mail order was almost unheard of. They left that model for retail stores and now they too are going away??? Smarter people than me need to put their heads together and figure this one out!
 
goldenboy said:
I hear that Cabela's has sold to Bass Pro as well. Can anyone figure out how to make this work? Cabela's was a huge success back when mail order was almost unheard of. They left that model for retail stores and now they too are going away??? Smarter people than me need to put their heads together and figure this one out!
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I wonder if Dick's is next; in my opinion, the worst of the three - Cabalas, Gander and Dicks. Dicks is basically a clothing store with a little bit of sporting goods.

Macy's, Penny's and Sears and others are finding the big box stores difficult to achieve profitability. The rent on their buildings has to be incredible!

Burger Bros., in Minneapolis, had relatively small stores, great sales people and focused on what sportspeople (being p. correct) wanted. I miss their friendly approach and reasonably priced merchandise.
 
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At one time Cabelas was my go-to for online/mail order sales. Now the first place I look is amazon. I found midway has more selection and better deals for shooting supplies. I have found great deals online on ice fishing gear from some Northern MN retailers. Rogers is known for their good deals for shotshells. There are so many options out there online now. Maybe Cabelas is trying to be a jack of all trades, master of none when it comes to sporting goods.

I know that about 10 years ago they spent a heck of a lot of money sending out catalogs. Remember the hard-cover ones? They probably over did it. Now I get a fraction of that and they are thin.

Didn't people used to (still do?) stop at Cabelas on their way to a hunting trip, buy a bunch of gear, and return it on their way back?

The average age of sportsmen is climbing as well. Do most of has have what we need now and only buy stuff to replace what we have if it breaks/wears out?
 
You guys that dont support the big 3 or 4 and go to amazon etc can enjoy complaining about walmart being your go to sporting goods retail store.

Save a dime online........
 
Gander

Gander put their money in expanding and adding on to their stores, and Cabela's
focused on on-line sales. There is a large company considering buying the Gander name, and it's not in the region of most of the Gander stores. Interesting to see what transpires. No matter what, I hate to see folks lose their jobs, and face eating catfood. Gotta hope for the best.
 
We lost one of our only All-Canadian brick and mortar chains last year. Le Baron outdoor products was my go to for fantastic deals (although less so for customer service) for the last three decades. Sad to see. They're breaking ground on a Cabelas store here in Halifax, same time as and right across the road from Ikea. I'm looking forward to parking in between teh two - wife goes one way, I go the other! See who gets in more trouble. Ya, I know... me.
Dave
 
Cabelas purchased Herters and Dunns. Dunns disappeared.

If memory serves ... Cabelas purchased Gander Mountain's mail order business some time ago and Gander was not allowed to re-enter mail order for some time. Internet sales changed all that.

With Internet sales ... one has to wonder why Cabelas mails out all the catalogs.

There is plenty of competition on the internet (it is not just Amazon) for dog supplies, decoys, etc....
 
jonnyB said:
I wonder if Dick's is next; in my opinion, the worst of the three - Cabalas, Gander and Dicks. Dicks is basically a clothing store with a little bit of sporting goods.

Macy's, Penny's and Sears and others are finding the big box stores difficult to achieve profitability. The rent on their buildings has to be incredible!

Burger Bros., in Minneapolis, had relatively small stores, great sales people and focused on what sportspeople (being p. correct) wanted. I miss their friendly approach and reasonably priced merchandise.
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I believe that Burger Bros was bought out by Gander Mountain back in the mid 90s.
 
jonnyB said:
We have a Dick's store here in Minneapolis - in my opinion, worse than Gander MT. Nothing but expensive clothing, golf and baseball products.
Maybe the small sporting goods store is the way of the future...
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Which Dicks is that? The one I shop at is two levels so it has a lot more inventory, but yeah the smaller ones might as well just be sports authority stores since SA never even carried stuff for like half of the sports out there.
 
goldenboy said:
I hear that Cabela's has sold to Bass Pro as well. Can anyone figure out how to make this work? Cabela's was a huge success back when mail order was almost unheard of. They left that model for retail stores and now they too are going away??? Smarter people than me need to put their heads together and figure this one out!
Click to expand...

I don't know that they left the mail order model behind, my father in-law still buys a lot of his stuff from them via mail order, but yes they have certainly shifted away from it. I thought I had read somewhere that the deal is now in jeopardy of not going through, or at least people are now betting that it won't.
 
this is the second bk for them

If I remember correctly they were owned by Holiday Corp and went bankrupt maybe 25-30 years ago??? Reorganized and now they are back in.
 
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