Sportsman’s Warehouse acquired by Great American Outdoors Group

[mtmuley]

When I lived in Nevada for a bit, I used to frequent a little store in a town called Dayton. (1988) They had display cases showing handguns and hard liquor for sale. Right next to each other. Days long gone. mtmuley

 

[MTLabrador]

The Fort in Big Timber is another local shop that I have to stop at any time I’m driving through town. I’ve bought a few guns from them.

 

[MTGomer]

The Fort in Big Timber is another local shop that I have to stop at any time I’m driving through town. I’ve bought a few guns from them.

Great store selling everything from AR-15 to huckleberry jam and chicken strips.

 

[cedahm]

Not happy at all. This lessons competition and drives the prices up. Competition is healthy and keeps corporate greed in check.

It CAN be healthy. ‘Corporate greed’ is just a euphemism for ‘our company needs to grow’ - which is why you see consolidation. That is effectively the way we have encouraged/allowed corporations to manage themselves in a relatively short period of time. There used to be 2 channels to distribute product. In a store, or via super clunky mail order catalogs. I argue often, sometimes in a paid capacity, that basically everyone tangentially involved in retail is competing directly with AMZN. And most of them are not going to win.

Shareholders demanded growth, consumers demanded more stuff faster and cheaper, and with the advent of e-commerce, voila, new channels. of course, retail blew through growth with the advent of e-commerce and non traditional distribution points (BOPIS, BORIS, Dark store fulfillment from the old Wards/Sears/Penney’s building, etc).

If you are a general retailer, once you’ve maxed out and sorted out efficiency and infrastructure for multi-channel distribution, further growth can really only be obtained at any kind of scale through M&A.

long winded way of saying that the rules of ‘competition’ have changed and theres no longer ‘Joes outdoors’ against ‘Johns ourdoors and Cheese’

 

[noharleyyet]

When I lived in Nevada for a bit, I used to frequent a little store in a town called Dayton. (1988) They had display cases showing handguns and hard liquor for sale. Right next to each other. Days long gone. mtmuley

The Country Store in Lake City, CO sells groceries, beer, Kimber rifles, Knives of Alaska, and Swarovski.

 

[Sytes]

The Cabela's catalog was read as much or more than Field and Stream and Outdoor Life. mtmuley

Bet they're kicking themselves for having the platform yet not connecting the Beezos Amazon model...

I always plowed through the cabelas catalogs back then... wait, I still do.

 

[MTLabrador]

The Country Store in Lake City, CO sells groceries, beer, Kimber rifles, Knives of Alaska, and Swarovski.

Same with the Fort, including Kimber and Swarovski. Last time I stopped in they had a great deal on a barely used Kimber Montana in 7-08 that I still regret not buying. You can even charge your Tesla there.

 

[ClearCreek]

The Fort in Big Timber is another local shop that I have to stop at any time I’m driving through town. I’ve bought a few guns from them.

Many years ago they had the best cinnamon rolls along the I90 corridor!!

ClearCreek

 

[Montanan4life]

I drive past Cabelas everyday, and will drive through rush hour traffic to the other side of Billings to shop at Scheels. We lost our SW many years ago, Cabelas here is a joke so I will just continue to be a Scheels loyalist, and shop at Shiptons when I can't find at Scheels

 

[geetar]

The Fort in Big Timber is another local shop that I have to stop at any time I’m driving through town. I’ve bought a few guns from them.

Yep and just across the street you can buy a Sharps rifle.

 

[TN_Rifle_Junkie]

This is a real shame. I have Smoky Mountain Knife Works (local knife/gun shop) nearby and they get a large quantity of ammo and firearms. Everything else I buy from online (goHunt/Elk101/KUIU). I buy my boots from a local hiking shop and finally convinced them to carry Kenetrek boots so I am looking forward trying on a pair pretty soon.

 

[SAJ-99]

It CAN be healthy. ‘Corporate greed’ is just a euphemism for ‘our company needs to grow’ - which is why you see consolidation. That is effectively the way we have encouraged/allowed corporations to manage themselves in a relatively short period of time. There used to be 2 channels to distribute product. In a store, or via super clunky mail order catalogs. I argue often, sometimes in a paid capacity, that basically everyone tangentially involved in retail is competing directly with AMZN. And most of them are not going to win.

Shareholders demanded growth, consumers demanded more stuff faster and cheaper, and with the advent of e-commerce, voila, new channels. of course, retail blew through growth with the advent of e-commerce and non traditional distribution points (BOPIS, BORIS, Dark store fulfillment from the old Wards/Sears/Penney’s building, etc).

If you are a general retailer, once you’ve maxed out and sorted out efficiency and infrastructure for multi-channel distribution, further growth can really only be obtained at any kind of scale through M&A.

long winded way of saying that the rules of ‘competition’ have changed and theres no longer ‘Joes outdoors’ against ‘Johns ourdoors and Cheese’

Can’t disagree with much, but will say there isn’t much “growth” in hunting and fishing. Bass pro is owned by private equity so they value market share %, and then some 23yr old analyst will do so financial engineering on a spreadsheet to make this acquisition look like “growth”. Beware when this monstrosity goes public.

 

[MTGomer]

You can even charge your Tesla there.

I was going to add that little detail but then I couldn’t remember for sure if the Tesla station was there or at the other gas station. They’ve had it forever too. Long before anybody actually had a Tesla. I remember laughing at it when it was put in. Probably gets used all day long by travelers now.

 

[MTLabrador]

I was going to add that little detail but then I couldn’t remember for sure if the Tesla station was there or at the other gas station. They’ve had it forever too. Long before anybody actually had a Tesla. I remember laughing at it when it was put in. Probably gets used all day long by travelers now.

They had the first Tesla station I ever saw in Montana by several years... I‘ve gassed up and loaded up on beer and supplies for many hunts and other trips up the Boulder from that place.

 

[Bambistew]

Does the Cabela's there have the Bargain Cave yet? Haven't been there for a while.

Yes, but hardly a bargain. More like retail of over priced Chinese junk.

 

[gutshotem]

They'll turn them into pseudo BPS filled with red head garbage just like cabelas. I don't know how they make money, seems like they're just a destination for meth head families to vacation. They spend the day and buy a $10 hat and bag of circus peanuts to treat themselves.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Same with the Fort, including Kimber and Swarovski. Last time I stopped in they had a great deal on a barely used Kimber Montana in 7-08 that I still regret not buying. You can even charge your Tesla there.

There are a ton of great small stores across the country, I try and order from small retailers as opposed to Amazon whenever possible.

RMS Gear - Denver
One Shot - Denver
Barney’s Sports - Anchorage
Schnees- Bozeman
The various company stores: SG/MR/etc
The Fort

This phenomenon isn’t really unique or hook and bullet, climbing/skiing/boating etc same thing. Big stores often sell crap gear, and a lot of the best hard goods companies have gone direct to consumer.

 

[rwc101]

West Laramie Fly Store is great if you need to grab some MREs, conibears, a gun, flies, and a coke while filling up the gas tank.

 

[Dougfirtree]

West Laramie Fly Store is great if you need to grab some MREs, conibears, a gun, flies, and a coke while filling up the gas tank.

I love stores like that. When I lived in Minnesota, I used to crack up whenever I'd walk into the gas stations. No joke, a typical gas station in northern Minnesota has a better selection of fishing lures/bait than the tackle shops around here.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

In the Fort vein, RIP Ray's in Harlow. Not as good on guns, but equally unpretentious.