Wholesale Sports is shutting 12 stores in Western Canada, leaving 545 employees out of work.
The company, which sells hunting , fishing and camping supplies, has been in business for 30 years.
The operation owned by Calgary-based UFA Co-operative Ltd. closed stores on Thursday afternoon to tell staff their jobs were ending.
READ MORE: Here are the 59 Sears Canada stores set to close and where you can expect liquidations
There were 12 Wholesale Sports stores with 440,000 square feet of retail space across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The chain had revenue of $103 million in 2016, down nine per cent from $113 million in 2015.
The news comes at a time of consolidation for outdoors destination superstores with American giant Bass Pro Shops snapping up rival Cabela’s in a US$4.5-billion deal announced a year ago. Both U.S. companies operate stores in Canada.
UFA, which bought Wholesale Sports in 2008, sold its U.S. stores in 2013.
All of the stores will close after Christmas.
Inventory liquidation sales will begin on Friday.
Comments