Last Month, Gander Mountain announced it was filing for bankruptcy.  They have officially confirmed they are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows them to restructure their company and repay their debtors over time. As part of its strategy to save their business, the sporting goods store has decided to close 32 of its low-performing stores in the next few weeks.

“Like many retailers, Gander Mountain experienced challenging traffic patterns and shifts in consumer demand resulting from increased direct-to-customer sales by key vendors and accelerated growth of e-commerce,” the company said in a statement. “Despite aggressive actions to improve the efficiency of the company’s retail operations and support functions, the underlying financial impact from underperforming stores and unproductive, excess inventory hampered efforts to create a sustainable path forward.”

The company says employee pay and benefits will remain intact while they focus on selling off the business over time.

The company’s strategic review yielded the following conclusions:

• A narrowly focused and lower cost operating model is necessary to position the company for profitable growth;
• The company does not have the financial capacity or time to reset its operations to fully implement the new model and, as a result;
• The best available path forward is to sell the company on a going-concern basis.

According to WFMJ, Gander Mountain’s spokesperson confirmed the closing of the following stores:

• Alabama (4) – Gadsden, Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa
• Georgia (3) – Augusta, McDonough, Snellville
• Illinois (3) – Champaign, Algonquin, Springfield
• Indiana (2) – Merrillville, Greenfield
• Minnesota (3) – Rogers, Mankato, Woodbury
• New York (1) – New Hartford
• North Carolina (2) – Raleigh, South Charlotte
• Tennessee (1) – Chattanooga
• Texas (10) – Houston, Killeen, Laredo, Lubbock, Round Rock, San Antonio, Sugar Land, Texarkana, Waco, West Houston
• West Virginia (1) – Charleston
• Wisconsin (2) – Eau Claire, Germantown