NONYA
Well-Known Member
You can use them at one of the stores that wernt bought out,they will take them over the phone.
Sportsmans Warehouse liquidating and selling stores
- Thread starter bwaites
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goodgrouper
Well-Known Member
We have the original three here in Utah and they are all staying or so they tell me. At least for the time being. But they just as well close their doors too. They haven't had a thing to sell but shelving supplies and dust bunnies for over two years. I was in one today and they had all of about 10 pounds of powder in the whole place and it was all RL15!! No primers, no bullets, no customers. You could almost hear a pin drop in the place. And to make matters worse, they RAISED their prices! Just when you thought GREED couldn't kill them any more dead, they do that?!
Too bad. There are a lot of good people working on the floor in our local stores and unfortunately, they will be paying the price for the bad decisions made by the corporate greed mongers who THOUGHT they were God's gift to retail.
Too bad. There are a lot of good people working on the floor in our local stores and unfortunately, they will be paying the price for the bad decisions made by the corporate greed mongers who THOUGHT they were God's gift to retail.
bwaites
Well-Known Member
One of the issues in retail is that if you aren't growing, you are dying. Sportsmans took a great idea, and tried to expand it faster than finances allowed, a classical error in startup businesses.
Look how slowly Cabelas expanded in comparison.
Greed MAY have played a part, but I suspect it was only a part of the issue. If greed was their only problem, prices would have been much higher a long time ago.
I'm sorry to see this happen, and hopefully they can rebound and make the core business work. Other companies have gone through similar issues, only to come back stronger and more efficient, hopefully Sportsmans can also.
As for the lack of stock, that seems to be a problem in EVERY outdoors store I go in, nobody has much in the way of ammo, reloading supplies, etc. I don't think the problem is Sportsmans so much as the industry!
Bill
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goodgrouper
Well-Known Member
I wish that was the case Bill but it's not. I also visited two other sporting good stores yesterday besides SW and they had things in stock that SW hasn't seen in years. And they are just little mom and pop stores. The fact is that SW was leveraging new stores with old ones and manufacturers simply stopped extending lines of credit on orders to them. That is why their shelves have been empty for two years.
Expansion is key but only if paced so that debt can be limited. Cabelas may have expanded slowly, but they are still around and doing fine.
Anyhow, it's so sad to see because it really had the potential to continue being a great place to shop. I just feel bad for the good guys who still work there (and some have been there since day 1) who are suffering now.
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bwaites
Well-Known Member
No doubt that the leveraging of old stores for new ones is what did them in. Lack of expansion capital is what kills lots of new stores and businesses.
But they aren't unique. Have you been to the Cabelas at Point of the Mountain? How are their stocks of primers, gun powder, bullets, etc.?
I've been in both Cabelas up here, the one in Post Falls, Idaho, and the the one in Lacey, Washington in the last few weeks, and neither of them has much powder, (a total of about 20 pounds between them), no small rifle primers of any kind, only a few large rifle primers. They both had decent stocks of bullets, but I bought all the Nosler 6.5 BT's they had and only got 400-500!
Sportsmans had some TAC in Kennewick, and some Nosler bullets as well.
I'm sorry to see Sportsmans in trouble, we need them.
But growth of a business is like raising a teenager, they will make mistakes, the question is how severe are the mistakes? Sportsmans obviously made some big ones, hopefully the infusion from the sale will allow them to rebuild!
Bill
NONYA
Well-Known Member
Stoppe by another store here in town today,they had a big ole pile of CCI 250s on the shelf,bought what they would sell me and then stoppe by SW thinking maybe they got some in as well,NOTHIN.Oh well,got my primers.gun)gun)gun)
I have a brother that owns and operates a gun shop. His orders for gun powder and primers, in particular, have only been partially filled/received since election day last fall. As soon as Obama was elected, demand went up to the point that his suppliers can't supply his needs. They keep partially filling his orders. I think his distributors suppliers are doing their best to keep some of the product headed out to all of the different retailers, which means no retailers are getting all they order.
There's also been a run on AR-15 type weapons, semi-auto pistols, and ammunition for those semi-autos. Seems the fear is that the assault weapon ban may be reinstituted and people are buying first, and waiting for it to play out secondly.
There's also been a run on AR-15 type weapons, semi-auto pistols, and ammunition for those semi-autos. Seems the fear is that the assault weapon ban may be reinstituted and people are buying first, and waiting for it to play out secondly.
goodgrouper
Well-Known Member
Some items are certainly hard to get right now, especially anything to do with AR's, .223 and 9mm ammo, primers, magazines, and so on. But these are in increased demand only since November. SW has been out of them for years. I'm afraid they can't use the Obama excuse anymore.
Last week, while I was in Phoenix, I stopped in at Bruno's shooters supply and he had no Fed215 primers but he had oodles of everything else. His brass bins were clear full (except for 300 ultra mag) and he had every model of scope he carries on hand. Powder was in good supply and I didn't see any gaps in his bullet box shelves. These are essential things for a company to have if they want to advertise themselves as a reloading center. And Bruno's is basically a hole in the wall. They have no where near the radar cross-section of SW yet they get the stuff in on a regular basis.
Awhile back, I asked SW why they don't get in any Berger bullets anymore. The response was that Berger is having production problems and can't fill their orders. But then not long after that, I was shooting with Walt Berger himself at a match and I heard from the man's lips himself that they pulled SW's distributorship because they failed time and time again to pay their bills. After getting bit so many times, they would no longer sell to SW. Now, Walt is a pretty straight arrow and I tend to believe him rather than the suits at SW. SW just figured I would never know the difference but they didn't count on the fact that this boy "gets around" in the industry and was likely to hear the word from the horses mouth.
The writing was on the wall many moons ago about the future of SW I'm afraid.
Last week, while I was in Phoenix, I stopped in at Bruno's shooters supply and he had no Fed215 primers but he had oodles of everything else. His brass bins were clear full (except for 300 ultra mag) and he had every model of scope he carries on hand. Powder was in good supply and I didn't see any gaps in his bullet box shelves. These are essential things for a company to have if they want to advertise themselves as a reloading center. And Bruno's is basically a hole in the wall. They have no where near the radar cross-section of SW yet they get the stuff in on a regular basis.
Awhile back, I asked SW why they don't get in any Berger bullets anymore. The response was that Berger is having production problems and can't fill their orders. But then not long after that, I was shooting with Walt Berger himself at a match and I heard from the man's lips himself that they pulled SW's distributorship because they failed time and time again to pay their bills. After getting bit so many times, they would no longer sell to SW. Now, Walt is a pretty straight arrow and I tend to believe him rather than the suits at SW. SW just figured I would never know the difference but they didn't count on the fact that this boy "gets around" in the industry and was likely to hear the word from the horses mouth.
The writing was on the wall many moons ago about the future of SW I'm afraid.
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Interesting to hear that. My brother gets a steady trickle of incoming powder/primers. Certainly not in the quantities he could sell if he could stock more though. He's been insufficiently supplied for a good 3 months now. He can get brass and a lot of the other supplies. But powder, primers and the semi-auto rifles/pistols and the ammo for them are stretched thin. He's just got a moderate size gun shop and has for the past 25 years. Nothing on the order of a Bruno's. Bruno's probably has more horsepower with their suppliers.
Sounds like Sportsman's was definitely on the way out before last fall's election.
Sounds like Sportsman's was definitely on the way out before last fall's election.
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bwaites
Well-Known Member
That's interesting. I was in the Provo store last June and bought 1000 primers for my Grendel, 4 pounds of powder, some large rifle primers, and a bunch of brass and other reloading stuff. I had already been to Cabelas, and they were out of the small rifle Magnum primers I wanted, as well as the powder. (TAC and Xterminator). Maybe I just got lucky.
Until after the election, I was always able to get TAC and Xterminator in the Kennewick, Washington store, and got small rifle primers regularly there also. They would be out from time to time, but always got them back in stock pretty quick. Once Obama was elected, guns started flying off the shelves, and within 7 days, there wasn't any powder, primers, and few bullets to be had. They got occasional shipments of stuff, and I bought it when it showed, but since then they have been down in stock a lot.
Interesting what you say about 9mm, I can find lots of that around here, but minimal amounts of .40 or .45! Very little .380 either.
Bill
My local guy is in the same boat as your brother. He's had brass on order for me for over a month. I know I could get it from one of the bigger mail order places, but I'll wait to buy local. They also give me a small discount that keeps what I pay them on the same level as mail order so either way I go it's roughly the same price.
On another note my local SW is now advertising a store closing sale of 30% off everything. I'm sure there are some exclusions though.
goodgrouper
Well-Known Member
I see on the local 10:00 news last night that SW filed for chapter 11 on Saturday. $452,000,000 in debt and the chain is only worth $432,000,000 The report said they they blamed the tough economy for their decision. Hmmmmm.......very interesting. So what happened for the two years prior to the economic slump when they were in still in the tank???? I wonder if their creditors are falling for their excuse? ANd if that's the reason they closed their doors, why then are Cabelas, Basspro, and numerous other small businesses still going? In fact, most have seen an INCREASE in business since November!
Seriously, it should be obvious why they are in trouble. And it ain't got nothin' to do with the general public.
Seriously, it should be obvious why they are in trouble. And it ain't got nothin' to do with the general public.
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