I saw on the news last night that Canfields is closing.  Not saying they were awesome. But I hate to see locally owned businesses go out.  They seemed to treat employees well since several were there a long time.  And treated customers well also.   News story blamed online competition.

I would like to remind everyone to support other local businesses while they are still here.  Omaha Knife in LaVista,  AM Military Surplus in Bellevue,  I don't know how many little AR shops there are around.  There is one in CB that people say good things about.

What???   I loved that store!!  Remember the old security guard at the door, sitting on the stool??  I'm talking 80s here.

Didn't the family sell the store a few years ago? I went there a few times.

this is copied from the "our store" section of their website:   "In January of 2014 Richard Canfield retired and handed the business over to a former employee, Scott Marble. Scott worked for Canfield's for 10 years before going out into the sporting goods industry; gaining extensive experience on both the retail and manufacturer level."

You would think if he had that much industry experience he would have known better than to take on such a disadvantaged business.  Meaning vs Sheels, Cabelas, Bass Pro and the internet.

When the new dude took it over he put up a wall to downsize the space.  He discontinued the military surplus (that was a lot higher priced than the Bellevue surplus store).  He also discontinued the "Shotgun Shell Sale" that had been a big deal prior to that.  It was pallets and pallets with a great variety and good prices.  I don't know what else he changed. The knife counter at first improved, then was moving towards junk.    So overall the store drifted away from my interests.  But I assumed They were gaining other customers.

This whole year I was there only once or twice.  But radio commercials kinda told a story.  They were getting rid of some product lines that you think of them for (I don't remember what) and putting in a professional bike shop.  Seemed weird, especially since it was late summer, when I would think people are not buying bikes.  Then more recently their commercials were about internet price matching.    I didn't think either of those were good ideas, but it didn't cross my mind that they were desperate plays from the death bed.

I don't buy on Amazon.   If I can't get it locally I would rather buy from a stores website or on ebay where the seller is a small store somewhere else.  Things like drain cleaning, HVAC and etc I use the small companies that can't afford a lot of advertising and where the owner might be the dude doing the work.    So I really don't like seeing these people throw in the towel, even if they have been making some questionable decisions.

I remember going there a few times over the past few decades.  I never cared for the surplus stuff, though I would probably appreciate that a lot more now.  We did buy several things there over the past couple of years as my wife and I were starting to gear up to go camping with friends.  I really liked how knowledgeable they are and loved it.  I was willing to spend extra money to support a local business.  They had nice 20% off anything coupons, too.  This is really sad because they had a tent that I really wanted.