GM live bait

[GlassEyeangler]

i heard from my neighbor yesterday, that the GM in lakeville is no longer selling live bait?!? i have not been down there in a while...can anyone else confirm?

if this is true...Lakeville does not have a bait shop, aside from the few gas/conveience stores with the little white friges full of crappy bait. this "LAKE"ville we need a bait shop. i hope someone with a lot of time and money will take on the challenge and start one. both me and my neighbor would pay up to $30 a pound for leeches no problem.

[Kyhl]

Yep, they stopped selling bait. Don't know if it is temporary as they remodel.

Shell station up Co Rd 5 from GM seems to be the next closest.

[CigarGuy]

Read about it on the metro fishing forum.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Yep, they stopped selling bait. Don't know if it is temporary as they remodel.

Shell station up Co Rd 5 from GM seems to be the next closest.

NO more bait there, but the above mentioned Shel station bought their tanks and is now the local go-to place around there. As mentioned, there is another post on the subject:

Gander no longer sells bait

[GlassEyeangler]

thanks for the info...must have missed this one.

i cannot believe they no longer sell live bait...remodeling or not. is the economy that bad, or is this one of those early marketing moves? meaning, we all have a hunch the dnr wants to do away with live bait all together...hmm, maybe GM is spearheading something with the dnr.

to all those that say they catch 10 to 1 on synthetic bait/lures...do not respond to this thread. i've used the fake stuff and it flat out doesn't work with any consistency at all for me.

[Fowlmouth]

Live bait will never be done away with. Probably just cost them more to maintain the bait shop than theyb were making.

[gardn184]

I would say it's probably just because it's a pain and not large money maker for gm, I know the one in Duluth did away with it as well awhile ago

[imgoing2sleep]

Is this just Lakeville or are all GM stores taking this route?

[hunterjoe]

I think I heard they all are. Coming from corporate. I know the lakeville store still has the cooler with worms and possibly leeches, but no more minnows.

[Ed Carlson]

I think stores that consistently managed to loose money on there bait shops will loose them.

Some locations do very well on bait sales and are profitable with there bait shops. Those stores will keep them, for now anyway.

Corporate business 101, pay for space used, or put something there that will pay.

[mrklean]

i remember talking to the guys at Scheels in st cloud and they said they make very little money off there bait only had it for convenience im sure gander was the same way so they are getting rid of a low margin item

[hugonian1]

Bait in it's self may not be a big money maker but very seldom do I go to Gander and just buy bait.

I have always been taught retail 101 is to get people thru the front doors and they will spend money.

This will be 1 more reason to not go thru the doors.

If this was logical they would quit selling licences.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Or screws at the hardware store

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

If you sell it they will come

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

It saved a stop for me, but no biggie. Il just get it at the new place. Probably faster to make two stops since they were always to slow for me anyway.

[Ed Carlson]

i remember talking to the guys at Scheels in st cloud and they said they make very little money off there bait only had it for convenience im sure gander was the same way so they are getting rid of a low margin item

Bait sales is high margin if well managed. It also is potentially high in perishable stock loss. If you control the perishable stock loss and build up a good bait business you will do very well and show good profitability. If your perishable stock loss is not managed you can loose many thousands of dollars in a single store alone in very short order. Controlling perishable loss requires diligent stock management, ardent maintenance practices, and requires man hours....you can guess where I'm going with the rest...nuff said.