Outdoors Specialists Calling it Quits in Maple Grove

Yet another chain will call it quits in Maple Grove.

After 16 years, the store in Maple Grove will be closing its doors, following the likes of Ultimate Electronics, World Market and Circuit City as large box stores to close over the last three or four years.

However, this one is on different grounds. An issue with the lease at the 80th Avenue and Elm Creek Boulevard location, and limited retail space are the primary reasons for the closure of the outdoor retailer, said Gander Mountain spokesperson Jess Myers.

The Maple Grove store is the only Minnesota store slated to close.

No timeline has been set for the closure, Myers said, although a store employee told Patch the Maple Grove store was scheduled to close “sometime in February.” The store has eight full-time and 23 part-time employees who will be offered “other employment opportunities at other Gander Mountain locations as they become available,” Myers said.

“It’s a matter of limited offerings,” he said of the closure. The Maple Grove location is 37,000 square feet, Myers said, about half the size of other Gander Mountain stores (many of which are freestanding). Expanded retail selections and a technology center, for example, are housed at larger stores but couldn’t fit in the Maple Grove store.

As of the week of Dec. 12, signs at the front entrance of the Maple Grove Gander Mountain announced several department discounts as part of their “store closing sale."

Gander Mountain is headquartered in St. Paul, along with several stores in Minnesota and nationwide. The Maple Grove store opened in the Maple Grove Crossings retail shopping area in 1995.

“This decision doesn’t change Gander Mountains commitment to the Twin Cities and Minnesota area,” Myers said.

The Maple Grove location faced new, stiff competition in recent years, with REI opening in Arbor Lakes, and Cabela's opening it's huge location in Rogers, both within the last five years.