16 July 2014 (20:18 UTC-07 Tango 15 July 2014)/18 Ramadan 1435/25 Tir 1393/20 Xin-Wei 4712
Years after Gottschalks went bankrupt busted, a new tenant is moving into the vacant building in Pocatello, Idaho: Sportsman’s Warehouse. Sportsman’s Warehouse is not new to Pocatello, but it is a victim of the Too Big to Jail banks.
Today the Sportsman’s Warehouse signs went up on the abandoned Gottschalks location, ending months of rumors.
In 2006 Sportsman’s Warehouse opened a large store in the Pocatello Square area (which was created by forcing dozens of home owners out of what was once a residential area), it was part of a 23 store expansion. By 2007 the company was expanding faster than it could handle, they needed a new inventory/distribution system, which was going to cost millions, so they turned to the Too Big to Jail banks for massive financing. By 2009 those Too Big to Jail banks turned on Sportsman’s Warehouse and attempted suck back every penny loaned out: “Within a period of three weeks, we lost $110 million in liquidity. The way the banks took money away from us was incredible. It all happened so fast.”-Stuart Utgaard
Stu Utgaard, the now former owner of Sportsman’s Warehouse, even turned to a British empire operation for help, Canada’s United Farmers of Alberta. But even they short changed Sportsman’s Warehouse.
The Canadian deal was supposed to invest $90-million USD, but for some reason they backed out after spending only $30-million. The only option left was to close or sell off the 23 new stores and declare bankruptcy. 2300 U.S. employees became unemployed!
Utgaard himself went bankrupt. No thanks to the Too Big to Jail banks, Utgaard reported a personal loss of $10-million! He also lost his job as senior executive. At one point Utgaard faced charges for shooting off a shotgun in his home. That’s a far cry from where he started in 1996, with one store. He published a book about the whole fiasco called The Sportsman’s Warehouse Story. At last report, Utgaard is running a successful olive oil business in Kentucky, and he thanks his true friends for believing in him: “When I came here, I literally had $20 in my pocket. But some of my friends were still crazy enough to loan me money after I went bankrupt.”
Dick’s Sporting Goods now resides in the ‘old’ Sportsman’s Warehouse location. The ‘new’ Sportsman’s Warehouse location might be smaller than the old location, but it’s probably more efficient. Sportsman’s Warehouse is now a privately held company with their HQ in Midvale, Utah.