Gander Outdoors unveils new logo

Gander Outdoors CEO Marcus Lemonis, left, awards Benten Woodring $100,000 for creating the winning design (printed on the top left corner of the check) in the company’s contest search for a new logo. Woodring, a freelance graphic designer, leads a design company called Benten Designs in Denver, Colorado. (Photo: Marcus Lemonis/Twitter)

Gander Outdoors unveiled its new logo Thursday.

CEO Marcus Lemonis shared the first image of the winning design with his Twitter followers after a six-week contest gathered thousands of crowd-sourced submissions to rebrand the former Gander Mountain logo.

Early Thursday morning, Lemonis teased followers the new design would be “clean, simple and easily used in multiple applications.”

He then flew to Denver to surprise the creator of the $100,000 grand prize winning entry, Benten Woodring, a freelance graphic designer and founder of Colorado-based Benten Designs.

“For me, simpler is always better,” Woodring said. “It’s longer lasting. You can use it across applications … just super simple and straightforward.”

“At the end of the day, it was essentially the simplicity that really worked,” Lemonis said, noting he intended to use the logo for his other businesses, Camping World and Overtons.

Gander Mountain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections in Minnesota court on March 10, indicating its intention to shutter 32 stores in 11 states and liquidate more than $500 million worth of assets.

Camping World, the nation’s largest recreational vehicle dealer, led the investor group that bought out $390 million worth of Gander Mountain assets, including its Overtons boating business, during an April 28 auction. Lemonis said a separate liquidation company bought the store inventory currently on sale across the country.

In the days following the auction, Lemonis changed the company’s name to Gander Outdoors. He’s released the latest updates on store closures and changes for the brand via his Twitter account.

He announced live on Twitter Thursday he’d saved 60 of the existing 162 Gander Mountain locations and plans to build 45 more over the next two years.

“Some locations will sell RVs. Some will have an Overtons. Some will sell fishing and have marine and live bait, campers,” he said. “We wanted it to feel like a family business that could work for everybody no matter what your outdoor lifestyle.”

The most recent comprehensive list of surviving Gander Outdoors locations, as of June 13, can be viewed here.