The Lakeville Gander Mountain location in Minnesota, which closed earlier this year, will reopen as the first Gander Outdoors store this week.
This story by Dan DeBaun originally appeared in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
The Lakeville Gander Outdoors (16861 Kenyon Ave.) will open to customers at 3 p.m. today, according to a company newsletter. The company Facebook page said this will also be the first newly rebranded Gander Outdoors store to open.
The Gander Outdoors website lists hunting, shooting, fishing, camping, biking, paddle and water sports and water accessories as product categories that will be featured in its locations. The stores will continue to offer gun services. Gander Outdoors locations intend to have larger water sport and active sports departments (biking and skiing, for example) compared to Gander Mountain.
Camping World Holdings acquired Gander Mountain in a bankruptcy auction in the spring. The company, a Lincolnshire, Ill.-based chain of RV dealerships, is run by CNBC-TV star Marcus Lemonis. It won the auction to acquire Gander Mountain and its Overton’s boating business for $35.4 million in cash and a $1 million contingent consideration.
Camping World said in its latest quarterly report that it intends to open 15 to 20 Gander Outdoors stores by the end of its 2018 first quarter, which ends in March, dependent on lease negotiations. It will open another 40 to 45 Gander Outdoors during its second and third quarters.
