Sportsman’s Warehouse Bankruptcy Filing

[The Quiet Man]

I live about equal distances from a Bass Pro and a Sportsman's Warehouse. Honestly, I generally like Sportsman's better as their prices were better...particularly ammo prices. However now their ammo prices aren't better because they just flat out don't have any...nor any reloading supplies either. At least Bass Pro has some ammo...even if it is ridiculously expensive. I can't really speak of Cabelas and their prices. I have heard that they think very highly of everything they happen to stock, but the only one is on the side of town that I just flat out never travel to.

[NVGdude]

IIRC They sell more than guns and ammo and that is probably where the bulk of the problems arose.

No, the problem was the entire enterprise was a shell game based on credit.

They built their stores on credit, they bought their inventory on credit. When the credit markets dried up, (or actually just started to shrink) they couldn't buy inventory. No inventory = no cashflow = can't service existing dept = death spiral.

Building your business properly may take longer, but it's far more stable in the long run.

[toad]

They also had a lot of crap in their stores. I heard it rumored that they were an easy sell in way to many cases. Of course the check was in the mail for a lot of the crap they got. The one closest to me shut down before the big credit melt down at the end of 2008.
I liked the place only for their reloading supplies.

[HTRN]

They built their stores on credit, they bought their inventory on credit. When the credit markets dried up, (or actually just started to shrink) they couldn't buy inventory. No inventory = no cashflow = can't service existing dept = death spiral.

It's called Debt financing, and it's far more common than you think. Most businesses simply don't have the money to float the kind of inventory they have to stock. I wouldn't be surprised if Cabelas and Bass Pro do it as well.


HTRN