Gander Mountain will be closing its Charleston location at the Southridge Center, along with 31 other stores, after filing for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday afternoon.
The company said the underperforming locations that are closing will begin their shutdown process in the next several weeks.
"Like many retailers, Gander Mountain experienced challenging traffic patterns and shifts in consumer demand resulting from increased direct-to-customer sales by key vendors and accelerated growth of e-commerce," the company said in a statement. "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."
Employee pay, benefits and retirement accounts will remain in place, the statement said.
Speculation has surrounded Gander Mountain since a February report by Reuters that said the company would file for bankruptcy soon.
The company is in discussions with multiple parties interested in its sale and expects to ask for bids prior to an auction in April. The winning bid will be submitted to court for approval in May, in which the sale would be closed later that month.
The 75,000-square-foot Charleston location opened in September 2006, Gander Mountain's 105th store.
The company also declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984 and 1996.
David Dawley, the director of the Robbins Center for Global Business and Strategy at West Virginia University, said in an interview last month that Gander Mountain could use Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a way to shift its strategy and differentiate itself from competitors, such as Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops. Cabela's opened its own location at the Southridge Center, less than a mile from Gander Mountain, in 2012.