MyFishFinder.com Just like iceshanty but warmer
I quit going into Gander a long time ago. Between outrageous prices and laughable stock, it'll be no surprise if they board up all stores.
That's not happening though. GM is going to restructure and streamline. Rapid growth and a gun market that didnt keep up is what caused these problems. The core districts in Wi and Mn will pretty much remain as is with mgmt structure changes. Other states outside those will be greatly effected.
interesting because i was in the market for more pistols and plenty of ammo (since their is no ice and wanting to shoot at a range) and my local gm gun clerk was an a$$. so i went to field and stream instead and another gun shop and spent with both of them instead. my buddy says you just have to know how to talk to them to get them to treat you decent. i said i don't have to do that any where else so i am not gonna try to learn to talk gm with gm employee's now.the clerk stared boasting how he has 30 plus years experience in gun sales and knows his business. yet can't treat a customer with any courtesy and is too lazy to care. so i hope they do go out of business or get rid of that store or employee's. for a person to act like that and represent his store in such a manner and feel okay about it is a BIG problem for all of his managers and boss's and himself.that day i went across the street to dunhams and that clerk took every gun out of his case and talked about each of them for me. that's a huge improvement and shows how one store cares a lot about it's customers while showing how another could care less.i ended up spending over 15k and will be spending much more than that, it just won't be with gm.also i am glad that cabelas will keep their business to them selves and not sell out to bp.
I work for a GM that's 5 minutes from a Cabelas. If I got 1lb bottle of propane for every customer that walks in and says, "I was just at Cabelas and couldn't even get anybody to talk to me, much less sell me anything," I could launch a shuttle to the moon. If I had a penny for every customer that said, "Cabelas customer service sucks", I could probably buy everybody here a new auger (at full retail)It sucks having bad experiences at a retailer, but no matter who you are and where you go, odds are you're going to have a bad experience. Why? Because you're spending money and whether you believe it or not, a huge percentage of your experience is in how you perceive your money was spent. I ask customers from time to time......"if everything was free would you ever say that a store treated you badly?" Hell no you wouldn't. But when you spend money, hard earned money, you want to be treated kindly and you want to know that the money you're spending is at least appreciated and went as far as it could.BPS, Cabelas and Gander....imo, they're all basically the same, but with different logos. Make the most, spend the least, staff as little as possible as cheaply as possible, yet try to keep a customer base.
I get more attention in a Cabelas, then I ever will at a GM. At the very least Cabelas staffs their gun dept. during the appropriate seasons. Try to get someone to talk to you at a Gander Mtn (unless you have 30 minutes to wait).If you want to be treated well, shop Scheels.
Shocker, few times I went to gander mt wasn't impressed.Hard to compete with online deals.
And that's a huge part of the challenge for retailers. Not only on-line outlets, but when stores like BPS, GM and Cabelas have on-line stores, they're cannibalizing their actual store sales. Makes me wonder if there's going to be any actual brick and mortar in the future.
There's nothing I can say to change folks opinions of GM, nor will I try, but I'm truly sorry you had bad experiences. I've been around part-time for 17 years. Been a fishing guy, a national Pro Staffer, a gun sales guy and now a gun tech. I've had way more positive interactions than negative and to me the most gratifying part of retail is having a customer come in and ask for me personally when they want to buy or have services done.
that's why macys is closing many stores. their on-line presence is enough to close many of them. look at amazon, no real store to walk in or none that i know of. virtual stores are the easiest and fastest ( i can place an order faster than getting to a store to be ignored or try to find some one who wants to earn their pay check and know how to do it) and most convenient way to shop.