Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Sportsmans Warehouse

They closed one in central Calif. last June. Just opened two in the Las Vegas area this past fall. I think he just spread his self to thin, to many stores. I don't know why the deal fell through with the canadian outfit. We were told they had lots of money and there would be no worries when they took over. Maybe it was the economy that scared them off.

The CA company wised up and only grabbed 15 of the stores in the NW.

I worked part time for these clowns for 5 years and watched Stu and his kids run it into the ground by over expanding and as Rocky said the shiiity distribution system. We knew this was coming over 3 years ago when the big expansion began. We couldn't get any inventory because Stu was starving the existing stores to pump up the new openers. The next big hurt came when they introduced the state of the art computerized ordering system that never worked. Then the hunting managers were not allowed to place orders for the department or customers in an effort to cut shipping costs.

I'm sure the CA COOP owned stores will do well. I'm not so sure about those retained by Stu and his knumbnut crew. I doubt they actually learned anything from the disaster.

One thing was for sure, customer service was the first thing dropped when the troubles began. It was a real shame to watch a great outfit fall apart.

I tried to apply for a job at corporate in 2005 just after completing my MBA in marketing and supply chain management. The only opportunity they had was to start at ground level part time in the retail store, I think about $8/ hour. Basically told me they promote from within and you have to work your way up, and that they don't hire at the MBA level. They also said they had huge expansion plans and that opportunies to move up should be plentiful.

I couldn't help but wonder at the time how they could have huge expansion plans but not have any opportunities at corporate or be willing to hire at the MBA level. I realize a company can sometimes grow some great talent within especially if they have great training and education incentives but they had neither. And, talented supply chain managers and marketing managers weren't looking for $8/ hour part time jobs at the time, although they might be now.

I asked a friend who worked there if he thought I could move up quickly based on my education and qualifications and he told me, "That stuff doesn't matter to them, it's all about whether they like you or not." I couldn't turn down six figure offers for an $8/hour job even if it was in an industry I loved. I gave up the idea of working for them at that point and have since just watched with morbid curiosity as they overexpanded and subsequently imploded.


Bb

GotDang it the Oklahoma City store is closing to just got word from my buddy there that's a manager in the firearms dept. darn that hurts.

BurleyBoy, you got it. That outfit was the most brown nosed based bunch I've ever had the misfortune to be associated with. The average guy there was just like anybody else, but as soon as they moved into "management" things changed overnight. Major suck up required and expected. I didn't consider anything about the that business as management. Stock shelves, write schedules, audit 4473s, inventory. A slightly educated monkey can do it.

I greatly enjoyed hanging with the other regular guys and all of my buddy customers. It was great to work in my hobby and life. I've always told folks that "hunting isn't what I do, it's what I am". SW was the place where I could hang out with others of same motivation. That's the only thing I miss about working there.

I still drop by the store to place my Brownells orders and check in with friends, but most of my best buds are long gone. I order all my handloading stuff online, as I did even when I worked for SW.

Guess the "coming fall 2009" sign on the empty lot in Flagstaff will mark a non-event.

Due to this country's tax laws, all businesses are dependent on banking for financing their business operations. When the banks got into trouble, they didn't have the funds to support their customers needs, especially those that carry huge inventories. Economic slowdowns hurt, but businesses can adjust. In retail, however, there are contracts for annual budgeted purchases from their suppliers, and some can get caught in an economic pincer. I expect that both circumstances have influenced SW's situation.

SW hasn't been able to pay their bills for 2 years, Win. It wasn't a bank problem.

I just found out today that the 28 stores he kept are still for sale. So, if anybody is interested...... By the way, everybody at our store is great. Nobody seems to be stuckup or brown nosers, even the managers. Our store manager is a really great guy. We had a really busy day yesterday. Just wish we could get some more inventory.

Sioux Falls SD store is closing as well

Wow, I've also heard they will be going chapter 11, probably if they don't sell.

I work a couple of evenings a month for them/Canadian owned.
Nice to get those pro-forms.

They figure it will take at least 5 million to 7 million dollars a store to get them back up to where each store was last year in inventory.

Good on the Canadian owned stores, sorry for the Utah owned stores. The managers in Utah ran them into the ground with
incompetence. That stupid Nike system wrecked the whole outfit.

The Canadian owned stores are already putting in their sku orders.