Gander Outdoors...

[bjrichus]

Who remembers Gander Mountain (US sports and camping retailer)? They went under a year ago. Closed up totally.

Well, at the weekend, in my part of Texas (Fort Worth), Gander Outdoors opened up for business. Same building, same store, almost the same interior to the store, almost the same kind of selection.

So I was walking round it and as with Gander Mountain, they are very much a 'recommended retail price' (RRP) kind of store, but with some very selective discounts. All the firearms looked to be about or ever so slightly less than RRP, certainly not the cheapest in town, but they do have a wide selection to handle and see how they feel to you.

Also lots of accessories that are way cheaper online...

However, they had my favorite .22LR ammo at a great price; Blazer 22LR 40 grain for $2.99 a box of 50 no purchase limits. I was carrying the stuff over to the cash register by the armful.

 

[BRD@66]

So...G Outdoors differs from G Mtn in that a few items are priced ok.

 

[bjrichus]

So...G Outdoors differs from G Mtn in that a few items are priced ok.

You got to be careful. Plenty of stuff in there is at RRP/MSRP which is easy to get cheaper online or even at your local gun store. For me, the benefit is that they let you handle the guns you are looking at in the display case, and they have a lot of them on display.

If you are not to price sensitive then they a great place to buy from, but I for one wouldn't want to pay "full price" for much at all unless it was an emergency.

One thing is that when it was Gander Mountain, the store had a strange smell (not sure what it was), but now as "Gander Outdoors" the place has no smell at all.

 

[TheMailMan]

It was the stink of failure. Just give them time.

 

[SloppyShooter]

Who remembers Gander Mountain (US sports and camping retailer)? They went under a year ago. Closed up totally.

Well, at the weekend, in my part of Texas (Fort Worth), Gander Outdoors opened up for business. Same building, same store, almost the same interior to the store, almost the same kind of selection.

So I was walking round it and as with Gander Mountain, they are very much a 'recommended retail price' (RRP) kind of store, but with some very selective discounts. All the firearms looked to be about or ever so slightly less than RRP, certainly not the cheapest in town, but they do have a wide selection to handle and see how they feel to you.

Also lots of accessories that are way cheaper online... View attachment 138355 View attachment 138356

However, they had my favorite .22LR ammo at a great price; Blazer 22LR 40 grain for $2.99 a box of 50 no purchase limits. I was carrying the stuff over to the cash register by the armful.

Well, I don't have much money, so I could only get 5 boxes.

 

[bjrichus]

It was the stink of failure. Just give them time.

At the prices they are charging, it can only be a matter of time...

Why?

Because if they were charging 5% less in this, the age of internet shopping, they'd be onto a winner. Of course, 3% is the usual retail margin, so...

 

[bjrichus]

Well, I don't have much money, so I could only get 5 boxes.

Any is better than none. What does he say? Never Enough Ammo?

 

[Moonpie]

Was not a fan of G.M.

Will check out G.O. just for info purposes.
Same same business model so it will fail as well.

 

[TxStetson]

Was not a fan of G.M.

Will check out G.O. just for info purposes.
Same same business model so it will fail as well.

Actually, it is owned and operated by camping world now. The only stores that they re-opened were the higher volume gun sellers. Some of the people in the stores are the same, but the upper management is all different. Not saying they won’t fail, just saying they have better odds than before.

 

[EZ-E]

Over in my neck of the woods, in the Cypress area, they had a Gander Mountain across HWY290 from an Academy. For years as i drive by twice a day & would see the Academy parking lot full & the Gander Mt. parking lot pretty much empty & wondered how much longer before they were out of business.

The firearms were always full retail at Gander... Academy about $50-$100 cheaper & if you go to your local gun store $100-$150 cheaper.

I always wondered what upper management person had the great idea of coming to Texas with the idea of .... "Hey lets move into the Texas market & place our stores near an Academy, & mark our prices up ... we should make millions. Them Texans are'nt that state proud... surely they would support our Yankee store & not their home grown store of Academy with cheaper prices."

 

[Moonpie]

I used to drop by the G.M. on 59 in Sugarland.
The store was a ghost town.

 

[EZ-E]

Yes sir, most of the time if i stopped by, just to look for deals or just passing & by noticed the parking lots were always empty. But what do you expect when you can go into Academy & get the same fishing lure for $5.98 & it is $7.99 @ Gander.

 

[45tex]

Bought 1 gun from Gander, only because they misprinted the price. I asked if they would really sell me the gun for their price? the sales guy said "OH" then crickets. Yes we will sell one for that price. Other than that I'd visit on gun demo days and maybe once a year find ammo at an OK price. The gun was a POS but to cheap to pass up. After the guns required Florida vacation, I made a small profit dumping it. Gotta give em credit for honoring their error. Academy would not have done that.

 

[TheMailMan]

Over in my neck of the woods, in the Cypress area, they had a Gander Mountain across HWY290 from an Academy. For years as i drive by twice a day & would see the Academy parking lot full & the Gander Mt. parking lot pretty much empty & wondered how much longer before they were out of business.

The firearms were always full retail at Gander... Academy about $50-$100 cheaper & if you go to your local gun store $100-$150 cheaper.

I always wondered what upper management person had the great idea of coming to Texas with the idea of .... "Hey lets move into the Texas market & place our stores near an Academy, & mark our prices up ... we should make millions. Them Texans are'nt that state proud... surely they would support our Yankee store & not their home grown store of Academy with cheaper prices."

Same thing in Mesquite. But to be fair Academy carried a lot of stuff, ball sports, that GM didn't.

 

[EZ-E]

Gotta give em credit for honoring their error. Academy would not have done that.

I guess depends on the store & who you are dealing with. I've had 2 purchases in the last year with Academy having the "wrong price" & making them honor it.
One was a $50 Columbia shirt marked down to $20 ... the cashier tried to tell me it was marked down incorrectly & they only bring the discount on Columbia product like 30% off... i got the manager involved & made them honor the price.

The other was the end of the year clearance on softball bats. I have 2 daughters that play. I had found a Louisville Slugger $299 bat marked down to $29.98, but you had to scan it on the price checker to see the discount. So i went around town scooping them up. I went into one Academy after already purchasing a couple from other stores & they told me the price is marked down with the wrong percentage & it should have been in the $90 range. I pulled out my other receipts for the same item & made them honor it.

Some days your the hammer & some days your the nail ; )

 

[sidebite252]

The one that used to be in Sherman was terrible. Prices higher than a cats ass and some of the rudest employees I’ve ever encountered. I have no desire to shop there again. It needed a total make over including a name change.