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I got to see/deal first hand with the lack of leadership. I mean at the very top.
I think they need to hear what guys on the front line had to say. What customers did and didn’t like etc…
I miss working there, it was great talking fishing all the time, but don’t miss the BS part of retail.
Gander will be around for a long time. Leadership has changed a lot over the past years and it makes it tough for any company to change the CEO several times and still expand by nearly 300% within 6 years. Add in their re-entrance into the catalog and internet arena (albeit it needs to be improved from its now entry level status) and overall you see that Gander is a company with extreme growing pains.
And yes, Gander can and probably will do better in the customer service arena as I know a few top-notch guys and gals there. What I hear is that there are big changes in the works regarding service and knowledge at the stores. But it will take time to see it I am sure.
Being a business analyst, I presume that Gander is going private so they can take care of their large long-term dept which has built up from such a large and quick expansion of stores. I hear that their expansion of stores is halted for the next year and I have not heard of any proposed re-locations or closures.
Gander’s fiscal year starts in Feb. as it does with most retailers that are publicly traded. So this is year end for them and inventory positions are probably looking kind of scarce as it overlaps season changes as well. Keep in mind that inventory positions at year end are also what creditors are looking at for next years credit limits. This is also why some of your best deals are found at retailers in January as well.
I hope Gander stops its store expansions and focuses on being customer centric. They have tons of potential in this area, it just needs to be executed properly. Which unfortunately requires true leadership to get there.
