After months of financial turmoil, Gander Mountain announced on its website it is going out of business after 57 years and holding liquidation sales at all 126 of its stores nationwide, including its Knoxville location in Turkey Creek.
But that website post is a bit misleading, according to Gander Mountain's new owner. Even though this is a 'going out of business sale,' about half of its stores could stay open in the future even if they participate in the liquidation sales happening now.
The new owner of outdoor retailer Gander Mountain, Mark Lemonis, of CNBC's "The Profit, says that his company bought the brand and the stores, but not the inventory inside them, so that's why they're selling everything currently int he stores.
Lemonis says *at least 70 Gander Mountain locations will stay open. He is gradually listing the stores he plans to keep open, but hasn't said yet whether the Turkey Creek store will be one of them. Three other stores in Tennessee were on his most recent list: Chattanooga, Jackson, and Mt. Juliet.
Lemonis, who is also CEO of Camping World, started tweeting updates about individual stores on Sunday, and on Monday, he tweeted a list of stores that would stay open. By Monday night, the list had grown to 62 stores, but the Turkey Creek location was not among them.
Last update for the day @GanderMtn stores to continue operations. More to come tomorrow pic.twitter.com/SuS6SyOWv3
— Marcus Lemonis (@marcuslemonis) May 8, 2017
Lemonis said more updates would come Tuesday. He also said he did not yet have a complete list of the stores that would close for sure.
So at this point, it may be too soon to say whether or not Knoxville's Gander Mountain store is closing, but it looks like it may be the case.