MILWAUKEE -- Gander Mountain announced Friday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it closes 32 underperforming stores and searches for a buyer.
The St. Paul, Minn.-based outdoor-goods retailer said it "generally expects to conduct normal business operations during the pendency of its restructuring," but that the 32 stores will begin a shutdown process in the next several weeks.
Gander Mountain spokesman Jess Myers said the Wisconsin locations to close are in Eau Claire and Germantown. The company also has Milwaukee-area stores in Waukesha, Franklin and Kenosha. Gander Mountain was founded in 1960 in Wilmot, in Kenosha County, as a catalog retailer.