New Gander Mountain/Overton Benefit. Good? Bad? Indifferent?

ontheroadwithjake wrote:
And Holiday Gas stations are never the lowest priced and in fact are often higher than the competition in may markets. This is their basic strategy and it carried over to Gander.

Holiday Station Stores are always have competitively priced gas in our area. They are almost always equal with, and sometimes below the cost of all the area competitors. And for the last year, they have a flyer in the local paper about every 2 weeks with coupons for 10 cents off gas, a gallon of milk for $1.99, 1/2 gallon of OJ for $1.99, and a dozen eggs for 69 cents. So they are WAY cheaper than any other gas or convenience store if you use their coupons.

And while their gas station stores have evolved to become more of a typical "quick market" type store over the last decade, they originally were much more of a sportsman's quickstop store back in the day. They had fishing equipment, bait, outdoor apparel (felt-pack boots, gloves, etc.) It wasn't like going to a big sporting goods store, but they were definitely catering to the outdoor crowd. So it didn't seem to be that much of a jump for them to get into the outdoor sporting goods business.

That said, I don't think Gander Mountain was a very good or competitive store. It was sort of like the K-Mart of the outdoor sports stores. Locally owned and run outdoor sports stores catered better to a niche crowd, and the big boys (Cabelas, Bass Pro) catered to mass market.