BLAINE, Minn. – (May 12, 2017) – One of Blaine’s highly visible retail stores says it is closing. Gander Mountain on Highway 65 has a large banner stating that it is going out of business, but it might not be. Camping World recently purchased the bankrupt Gander Mountain, and their CEO says many of the stores will remain open leading to confusion for shoppers and for the cities these stores are in.
“There are conflicting reports about which stores are remaining open and which stores are closing,” said Blaine Economic Development Coordinator Erik Thorvig. “We’re going to continue to monitor the Blaine location and try to reach out to the owner of the company that bought the Gander mountain to determine what the future of the Blaine location is.”
According to a preliminary list, the Gander Mountain stores in Forest Lake, Lakeville, Baxter and Hermantown are the Minnesota stores slated to stay open, with the hint that there will be even more.
“All of the Gander Mountain stores do have store closing signs but some are going to remain open so we’re at a little of a lost and conflicted as to what the ultimate plan is for Gander Mountain,” said Thorvig.
Blaine is trying to figure out what is happening with the store and with the property, so they know how to respond.
“We also try to reach out to the company themselves depending on the size and if we have local contacts as well we reach out to them to try to get the accurate information on the story because anytime a business closes there’s always rumors that go on so we try to get as much accurate information as possible,” said Thorvig
If this location were to go away, Erik has no doubts that Blaine would be able to find a business or businesses that would like to move into the space.
“With visibility along Highway 65, it’s a good retail location so if Gander Mountain ultimately does go away, we have the opportunity to have another new business either occupy the entire space or to split the building up into multiple spaces but we hope that if it does go vacant that it’ll fill very quickly,” said Thorvig.
