Gander Mountain closing two North Carolina stores

Gander Mountain filed for bankruptcy and is closing stores nationwide – including two in North Carolina.

The Gander Mountain in Morrisville at 2100 Village Market Place, off Chapel Hill Road, and in Charlotte, at 13610 Hoover Creek Blvd., will close along with 30 other locations nationwide. Gander Mountain has 162 stores across the country.

The closings could affect at least 1,280 full- and part-time employees.

The outdoor goods company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it faces dwindling store traffic and increased competition from online retailers.

“Despite aggressive actions to improve the efficiency of the company’s retail operations and support functions, the underlying financial impact from underperforming stores and unproductive, excess inventory hampered efforts to create a sustainable path forward,” the company said in its statement.

The company generally expects to conduct normal business operations during its restructuring. Employee pay, benefits and retirement accounts will remain in place, the statement read.

Gander Mountain is the nation’s largest outdoor retail network with stores in 26 states. It is also the parent company of Overton’s, a leading catalog- and Internet-based retailer of products for boating and other water sports enthusiasts headquartered in Greenville.

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Gander Mountain closing two North Carolina stores."