"Overton's is a unique opportunity for Gander Mountain,providing an excellent management team, a proven platform andinfrastructure, and the capacity to handle substantial additionalvolume with minimal incremental investment," said Mark Baker,Gander Mountain's president and CEO. While accelerating GanderMountain's multi-channel sales opportunities, Baker noted,"Overton's product mix is uniquely counter-cyclical to GanderMountain's."

That benefit seemed highlighted by Gander Mountain'sthird-quarter performance, which Baker acknowledged, "is not thequarter we were hoping for." Extended warm weather, combined withconsumer's spending concerns, he said, contributed to a 8.4%-dropin comp-store sales and a net loss of $5.1 million, compared withnet income of $2 million for the same year-ago quarter.

Firearms, camping equipment and warm-weather apparel sales weresoft, while fishing equipment benefited from the warmer weather.Baker also suggested that "discretionary spending" accounted forsome of the weakness, noting that higher-priced firearms, opticsand electronics were weaker than usual.