What's next for super gun stores after Gander Mountain liquidation?

After nearly a half century Gander Mountain filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was one of the big ones. The type of outdoors store that felt like a Disneyland trip for any nature lover. Long story short...Gander Mountain was founded similarly like Sears with the Sears catalog thing. The company expended fast over the years. As of March 2017 they had 162 stores in 27 states, making it the largest chain of  outdoors specialty store in the United States. Being intrigued by these kinds of things, I wanted to know more about why the business was downsizing. They filed  bankruptcy in order to liquidate assets by closing 32 of their stores. Two questions came to mind that I wanted answers to. Other stores like Cabela's and Bass Pro Shop came to mind, as I wondered when they could possibly face father time. They other question was, who's taking the market away from these huge retailers?

When I want that outdoors feeling I head to my local bass pro shop in Ashland, Va. As your walking up to the entrance, you see these huge letters. They sum up exactly what your about to enter, something called an "Outdoor World". I like Bass Pro firearm prices better than Cabela's, but I still wouldn't make frequent purchases at either. To be clear, Cabela's does have a great variety of collectible guns. Without naming it a ghost town, I've never seem either of these stores packed with shoppers. I'd say you would never get the feel that the store doesn't have a base consumer. Maybe most of the people who visit these huge shopping stores are there just to see the attractions. Pointing to myself, it seems I could be added in that class of people who just like to pay visits, but never actually purchasing anything.

Where I do make my outdoor items is online. That's who is starting to really get a hold of the market. Search for an item, locate a seller whether a store or individual and wait for it to arrive. That's become the norm for many products. It's also become the normal method in which older companies aren't able to adapt to. Gander Mountain leased their buildings. The very same thing Blockbuster did, and we remember what happened to them...