Stopped by the Gastonia NC store today to look around since they were touting a 75% off sale.
Holy Crap. Those cats are crazy. The prices are high as eagle puzzy.
Steyr scout rifle for 2200!!! I can get the same rifle off Steyr's sire for 1400. That's not a little bit higher...that's 8 bills!
Same thing with glass. Wow!
No loading equipment.
No 22LR.
What a waste. I'm glad we have the classifieds.

I've posted the same thing in the past. I don't see how they stay in business.

They are a clothing/ fishing store that sells the occasional gun.

A couple years ago I bought a Browning Gold Fusion from GM at sale price with a huge rebate. Next rack over had a used BGF for $100 more than the sale price on new, forget the rebate. No logic applies.

I think they make it up on deer corn and pink......

I go only to cruise their used racks. Their staff most often has no clue what they have and are as likely to miss very low as they are very high on valuation.

Gander Mountain is a [bleep] place to shop. I don't understand how anyone will pay those prices. The one near me has pieces of crap in the used gun rack and even those are overpriced. I will never shop in another GM. Been to the store near me 3 times since it opened about a year ago thinking I will trip on something worth buying. I am done with them.

the ones around me, ran many of the little mom and pops stores out. they were selling reloading supplies, and now they even stopped that. im not sure why anyone would stop there, cant afford the guns, and no reloading supplies.

Last time they had good prices was when they were closing out the Win. Model 70s. Many would sell for at least double today. Their regular prices are a joke. You could save $100 on most guns by shipping to a dealer.

Gander sucks. Last one I stopped in had a Kimber Montana in 308. Looked at the price tag to see $1380. Put it down and walked out. Haven't been back in a GM since

I shop their sale clothing racks and used guns. I picked up an NIB 3913LS with the box and carrying case a couple of years ago for $400. They must have figured everyone was going plastic.

You gotta laugh at how they keep raising the prices on the same old shop worn boxes of ammunition hoping someone will eventually buy them at the newer, higher price.

LOL!!!!! Really that high?

Beef jerky and suck dynasty.

Yeah, I've noticed some of their $550 handguns are $150 overpriced.

I saw a Kahr PM9 "On Sale" for $1199 with night sights. I bought it. It was $300 off MSRP.





Yeah right.

Fixed it for ya.

The Gander in Huber Heights, Ohio was good to go to for a while just to browse the used guns sections. That is, until they took them all away so you can't even handle the guns anymore. You have to ask to see any gun at all, even muzzleloaders and their customer service is piss poor.

I enjoy my time looking at the occasional pawn shop guns much better, and most of them suck. That's how bad Gander is.

Trophy Rocks and Big & J supplements are almost double the price of those at TSC. No way in hell.

Decades ago, Gander Mountain was a FANTASTIC catalog store... however sold out to Erickson from Minneapolis IIRC... same guys that own Holiday Gas Stations, Supermarkets and Sporting Goods Stores.... They also bought out Berger Bros, another good Twin City Outfitting Store in the 80s...

I quit shopping Gander when they opened their stores way back then.... and they were no where near as overpriced as they are now...

I really should have realized it was going to be a waste.
I specifically remember taking note that I was walking from the parking lot towards the front door I noticed 5 or so people exit empty handed.

If you really want a laugh, have them give you a price on a firearm you have for sale. I did that recently just for kicks. I took in a used, 4" Ruger GP100, with new night sights. It was about 85% condition. The offer? $150. I laughed and said "no thanks". The guy at the gun counter tried the "well, that's really about what they are worth and we'll sell it for $225". I left him my name and number and told him I'd buy every GP100 they got in for $225.

The GM in Bryan,Tx has an awesome selection. I'll pay a tad extra to be able shop where there is such choice. But GM wants way more than a tad more. They are really pathetic.

I rough figured that I could take off, drive to Steyr Arms and buy the scout, eat lunch and drive back home and still have enough cash for a scope rather than but from GM.

One went out business by me and I still waited to the final day to get a deal. It was no doubt they were going to fail.

Gander, Dicks, etc etc are high even with sales. Support you local small gun shops. Guns are often $100 cheaper or more at the locals. Plus the locals always negotiate more on used guns

The one time I got a good deal at Gander or Dick's was when they ran an ad for shotgun ammo on sale for 4.99. They forgot to specify which gauge that covered.

Picked up 6 flats of Win.28 gauge AA's at 4.99/box.

Haven't been back since.

I've bought several guns from the local Gander Mountain and have been pleased with the prices.

First (November, 2005) was a used Rem M700 BDL in .308 Win, $350. It looked like new and was a tack driver.

New Savage 111GNS .30-06 (February, 2008)for $299.97.

Used H&R Handi-Rifle .308 Win (December, 2011), heavy barrel, $180.

Used Beretta 950 .25ACP (April, 2012) with original box, circa 1968 manufacture (pre-safety), $149.99. (I've seen the boxes go for $80.)

Three new S&W BodyGuard .380 pistols (November, 2014) for $349 each last Christmas. Not the best price but I needed and they had three.


On the other hand, I've seen Gander prices that make no sense whatsoever. Kind of like going into a gun show and seeing the same brick of .22 bullets (Winchester 555-pack) going for $45 to $65 within a few feet of each other, as I did a couple weeks ago. Picked up one of the $45 boxes. It pays to be an educated and alert buyer.

+1

As well as supporting each other and these forums.

You think their prices are high, walk in and try to trade with them. They will teach you the true meaning of a beat-down.

Needless to say, I don't patronize either store.

All this "in house bitching" will do nothing to change things.
If everyone who voiced a complaint here in this thread, emailed corporate HQ, it might open some eyes within the corporation.

True, but all this "in house bitching" may make other people they are aren't alone in their being unsatisfied.

It may also educate other guys here and save them a trip or hassle.

High prices, piss poor customer service, and word of mouth will eventually lead to them cutting their own throats.

NOT! They don't care. Gander Mtn. has opened two stores within a 100 miles of me in the last 5 years.

The main reason they stay in business is because they can get firearms when smaller stores cannot.

They buy straight from the manufacturer. Smaller outlets go through distributors.

What good is it to save $50 - $100 when store A (gander mtn., Cabelas, ect.) has the firearm at the higher price...and store B (small locals) cannot get the firearm?

They have a strong appeal to those who just want to go in a get everything they need in one stop.

I have 2 of these stores within a 20 minute drive and have never purchased a gun from either and probably never will. I don't know who they have setting the price on their guns or training their associates but they make bass pro shop gun rack employees look like Craig Boddington or Jim Carmichael.

I complained to the store manager Greensboro NC store and he shrugged and said he would look into it. I think they make enough money selling the other crap that gun sales are gravy. Everything they have is over priced.

In Michigan they are supposed to be downsizing fishing/camping/misc. departments and increasing guns/hunting. Whatever that means. At those prices, it will be their downfall. They have already eliminated all reloading stuff within the past few years. Their clothing line sucks, or any good brands are full retail.

Their profit margin is 40%. I went in and spent some time with them. I finally got around the "what if" obstacle. The associate finally told me (after the dept. manager got involved) that they do not trade firearms. They would purchase the firearm...at 40% less that blue book value.

Most of their stuff is outrageously high but like 4ager I have scored some killer deals due to staff ignorance on used firearms.

It won't. Trust me I worked there until three days ago when I quit.

I'll address a few points in this thread. First, over priced new guns. Gander Mtn relies on people who want to be able to come into the store and put there hands on a gun so they have a large inventory. They also rely on people not being able to wait a few days to order it from another store so they charge alot more. Alot of people pay. They will price match another dealer that has the same gun in stock if the dealer is within 60 miles. I did it all the time when customers asked, we didn't volunteer to price match, and wouldn't negotiate the price unless the customer specifically mentioned being able to get it cheaper somewhere else.

Over priced used guns. Most of these guns have been in the company's inventory for years. They get floated from store to store to store hoping some clueless consumer will buy it. Most used guns at our store that were a decent price never hit the sales floor. Associates and even managers bought them before they were available to the public or put them on hold for their friends and family. Store employees did not get a discount on any guns in the store, bought we got first shot at them.

Buying a gun from you? Your gun is a turd, it doesn't matter if we have the same one in the case in worse shape, yours is worth less. The store will give you 60% of what we intend to sell it for.

Customer service? Non-existent which lead to me quitting. I called the phone order dept and ordered an expensive trolling motor that wasn't in stock at our store, being an employee my order had to be processed by the supervisor. I was given the 20% off employee discount and an additional 10% discount for a sale that was going on. I paid, my bank account was charged, received a confirmation email, even received tracking from fedex saying my item would be at my house that Saturday. On Wednesday, before it was due for delivery, the store manager of GM #344 in Charlottesville where I worked called me and told me my order was not eligible for the employee discount and the company was cancelling my order if I did not pay an additional $180. I said my order was placed, paid for, and shipped and I wasn't paying extra. He said then my order would be cancelled. I expressed my objections over the situation, but was told he was just the messenger and there was nothing he or I could do about it and I was not allowed to take it further up the chain. I knew the motor was due to be delivered Saturday so I told him let me think about it for a few days.

Before the motor was delivered it was rerouted to the store. Now I had no motor and the store had not refunded my money. At this point I contacted the manager and told him that I wanted the motor or a refund. He said he could not refund my money until the store had possession of the motor which was at a fedex warehouse according to tracking.

On Friday of this week I went to the store to demand a refund. The manager said it had been credited to my account and could take a few days to post. We had a discussion about the company's poor handling of this situation and his poor handling of my refund. In the end I told him I didn't need the bull [bleep] of working at gander mtn and I quit (this was a part-time job where I worked 1 day every week or two because I love guns and hunting).

Gander Mtn doesn't care about it's customers or it's associates. The company is aware of posts like this on the internet and face book, but they know people will shop there because of their large inventory.

I've defended the store when appropriate in the past and promoted the store when it was appropriate, both online and in person. I mentioned this to my manager and told him that I could also share my negative experience and other instances of poor customer service that I witnessed, he said he didn't care. The next time you think of going to gander mtn, go somewhere else. And if you are local to Charlottesville, VA and find yourself in the store, mention to Matt Watson the store manager you saw this online.

The ONLY time I go to gander Mt is to try on clothes before I order them from somewhere and to buy turkey ammo.

The Gander in Wausau, WI used to say they were the best in the country, highest in sales, best used gun inventory, etc... Well after going to about a dozen since then, I'd agree. The rest are crap.

The two within 15 minutes of my house have literally 3-10 used guns that are compete crap and listed for new prices.

I can go to two LGS' and as many bait shops as you can shake a stick at and get a better deal on piece of fishing equipment.

If Gander Mountain had a 50% off going out of business sale I would probably still have a hard time finding anything in there I actually wanted.

I'm all about supporting the locals, but I buy all my guns online anymore. Usually they're $100-$200 cheaper than the locals....$200-$300 cheaper than GM.

To me, the Middle Class is diminishing and the locals aren't helping me any. I do live in a very rural area though.

They recently modified our area GM to be a gun-heavy one, forget what their name for it is. A Cabela's, Dick's F&S, and several large local gun/outdoor stores seem to help keep the GM's prices in check. I'm headed there this week if a rifle deal goes through, for a couple 50-round boxes of .218 Bee ammo they have; I'll bite the bullet just to get the brass - might be high priced but at least they have it.
Occasionally outfits like this one's stupidity works against them. I picked up a new .221 Rem. LVSF a couple years back for 600 bucks, then the clerk said the $100 Off sale just started that day when he rang me up. Didn't argue; saw one on an auction site this week with a $1200 Buy Now price.

I did buy a stainless steel Rem 700 there for $279. I also sold it back to them for $150 more. It was the only time I'd say I got even a reasonable deal from them.

It's not too hard to get a deal at gm if you work less than 150 yds from them. Just stop in once a week. After only 22 years, four guns were reasonably priced to the point of coming home with me.

Now that was funny . The one near me plays games all the time with the same gun having multiple prices depending on the day of the week it seems. They can keep them all for all I care.

Boddington or Carmichael......now that's funny.

The Gander in Fargo, ND is a joke as well. Don't waste your time stopping.

Guess it was around 4 years ago I was in one of the Houston, Tx area Gander stores. The deer hunting season had ended a few weeks before. There were a fair number of rifles on the racks with no price tags and one of them was of interest to me. Asked a sales clerk for its price. He answered that he was in the process of repricing many of the rifles and that they were reducing prices around 15%. He sorted thru the stack of new price tags and found the one for rifle I was interested and showed it to me. So happens I'd checked the price for this particular rifle at a couple of places the night before on my computer. Also, had checked its MSRP on website of the rifle manufacturer.

Well, Gander had reduced the price to pretty close to what the MSRP was. Commented to the clerk about this. He will scan the area around us, making sure no one else was within hearing distance before he replied. He tells me orders had come down from Gander headquarters a month or so before deer season to raise rifle prices. We had very poor rifle sales in our store and management wanted to know why. Now, I'm reducing the prices to what they had been before deer season.

I don't know much about their rifle prices as I just started getting into rifles/hunting. I've been catfishing for a lot longer though. Not once have they had something and been the best deal. So far I'm finding the same thing with their rifles. Every rifle that I've priced through them I've been able to find cheaper. I'm not really sure what the draw of that store is, but I've never been impressed with them. The only thing I can figure is they make a killing off the random weekend outdoor people. That just spontaneously do stuff and don't actually research what they are buying.

Perfectly stated.. About the same as Dicks..

Got that right! I did stop not long ago to check out the ice fishing lure selection and noticed they remodeled the whole inside of the store. I made my rounds and left with nothing.

The remodel must not have done much for business because the parking lot is still mostly vacant every time I drive by.

Drive a few blocks north and go to Scheels or head south to Fleet Farm. GM sucks