Gander Mountain Store to Close in Maple Grove

After 16 years, the store in Maple Grove will be closing.

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, according to 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, he 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, which is about half the size of other Gander Mountain stores. 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.