CNBC star pledges to rescue 70 Gander Mountain stores

Just when it looked like sporting goods chain Gander Mountain would be closing all of its remaining stores, along comes a CNBC star as the chain's new owner saying he will keep at least 70 of the chain's 126 stores open.

Marcus Lemonis, star of CNBC's The Profit, bought Gander Mountain assets in bankruptcy court and has been reassuring employees and customers on his Twitter account that he plans to stand by his pledge to keep many of the hunting and fishing chain's stores open.

"About 10 days ago I bought all of the assets, all of the intellectual property, all of the trademarks, all of the leases," he said in an interview on Sunday morning. "A liquidator bought the inventory that's in the stores and they have the right to sell that inventory down."

He added, however, "Ultimately we control the leases ... every single property. And my intention is to keep at least 70 open."

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The home page of the Gander Mountain website is currently a large digital flyer promoting the liquidation sale. The ad says that after 57 years, all locations will be going out of business and that "everything must go."

When the St. Paul, Minn.-based Gander Mountain filed for bankruptcy in March, it said it would shut down 32 stores in 11 states over the next several weeks. At the time, the company's 160 stores employed 1,280 full-time and part-time workers.

Before the bankruptcy, Gander Mountain has stores in 26 states.

Lemonis is CEO of Camping World Holdings, which operates a network of stores catering to recreational vehicle owners. Camping World made the bid for Gander Mountain.

In his CNBC role, Lemonis is seen investing in distressed, businesses around the country and then personally taking a hand in trying to turn them around, often butting heads with the management in the process. When it comes to Gander Mountain, Lemonis said he doesn't mind starting over with all new merchandise.

"We want to help the liquidators sell their inventory. We don't want to be disruptive to that, but we also don't want employees thinking that they're all losing their jobs," Lemonis said. "I am definitely going to protect my people at all costs. No matter what."