Gander Mountain Company signed leases for two new outdoor lifestyle specialty stores to open in the fall of 2006. One of the new stores will be located in Lake Mary, Florida, just north of Orlando, and the other will serve Charleston, West Virginia. The company has previously announced new store openings this spring in Tyler, Texas; Mooresville, North Carolina; and Blaine, Minnesota. Later in the year, the company anticipates announcing an additional one to three new store openings for the fall of 2006.
Gander Mountain is remodeling existing buildings for both of the stores and expects to open them in September 2006. The Lake Mary store will be approximately 80,000 square feet and the Charleston store will occupy 65,000 square feet, and both will have additional outside selling space for larger items such as ATVs. Each will include an in-store professional gunsmith, a full-service archery shop with shooting lanes, a Power Shop for servicing small engines and a Gander Lodge meeting space, available to local organizations free of charge. The Lake Mary store will carry Gander Mountain's broader assortment of Genmar fishing and recreational boats, in addition to the usual selection of canoes, kayaks and aluminum fishing boats.
“We are excited to introduce Gander Mountain's extensive assortment and unparalleled customer service to customers in these two great hunting and fishing markets,” said Mark Baker, president and CEO. “With this first store in Florida, we take a significant step forward in increasing the geographic diversity of our stores, while the opening in West Virginia adds to our growing presence in the mid-Atlantic region.”
