Sporting goods firm eyes Maine for store

PORTLAND – A Minnesota-based outdoor sporting goods retailer is eyeing Maine as a possible site for a new store.

Gander Mountain Co., which operates about 100 outdoor sporting goods stores focused on hunting, camping and fishing, has been scouting locations in southern Maine for more than two years, according to a firm that develops properties for the company.

Gander joins Cabela’s Inc., which is considering a store in Scarborough, according to state and local officials. Nebraska-based Cabela’s, the largest U.S. retailer of outdoor sporting goods, sells mainly through catalogs but also operates 15 stores.

If the companies decide to build in Maine, they would provide direct competition for companies such as L.L. Bean and the Kittery Trading Post.

Mike Ayres, chief operating officer at Oppidan, a commercial developer that finds sites and builds Gander Mountain stores, said Gander would like to open a store in the Portland area in 2006 or early 2007, and might be interested in Bangor down the road.