An outdoor sporting goods distribution center that got its start in South St. Paul decades ago is closing, laying off 57 employees. It marks the latest turn for Sportsman’s Guide, an online and catalog retailer of hunting gear, ammunitions, and outdoor sporting equipment that launched its first issue back in the ’70s and has traded hands a couple times over the years.

The shutdown comes as Crecera Brands, Sportsman’s Guide’s parent company, consolidates its distribution operations to another facility in Greenfield, Indiana.

All employees impacted at the local warehouse at 411 Farwell Avenue in South St. Paul were offered a chance to relocate to the recently opened Indiana facility, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) sent out this week. The company expects to retain 109 employees at the South St. Paul headquarters, which is attached to the warehouse—none of them affiliated with distribution operations.

The closure and layoffs are expected to take place July 18. Affected employees do not have union representation or bumping rights, the WARN notice states. It adds that the closure “has no trade implications.”

“It’s not because of tariffs, or anything like that—or foreign entities,” says Sportsman’s Guide’s chief human resources officer Scott Williams. So why is the South St. Paul facility closing? Williams cites efficiencies.

“The biggest reason is we were operating multiple distribution centers that are not that close, from a geography standpoint,” he says. Along with Sportsman’s Guide, parent company Crecera Brands counts retailers The Golf Warehouse and BaseballSavings.com in its portfolio. The company is also closing its distribution center for The Golf Warehouse, in Wichita, Kansas, Williams notes.

The Indiana facility was chosen for consolidation because “it’s within a two-day shipping window of 85% of our customers,” Williams says. “You’ll notice that Indianapolis is a really big hub for distribution centers.” The move presents “a tremendous shipping advantage and customer-service advantage by being more central for our customers like that. … Minnesota adds probably a day of transit time, on average.” Plus, it’s easier to have operations under one roof, and the Indiana center, being new, has more advanced tech, he says.

The five-year goal for Indiana is to employ 220, according to Williams. With notice of potential layoffs going out in October, he says, five affected Minnesota workers have relocated. “I’m doubtful that we’re going to get many more takers.”

Sportsman’s Guide began as an outdoorsy retail catalog, founded in Minnesota in 1977 by Gary Olen, who died in 2022. “[Olen] actually started out selling hunting patches” for embroidering on jackets or shirts, Williams says. “It was a garage company that he built into a big enterprise.”

In 2012, Burnsville-based Northern Tool + Equipment acquired Sportsman’s Guide for $215 million. Then, BHG Ventures, a Michigan investment firm, bought Sportsman’s Guide (along with The Golf Warehouse) in 2021, the Star Tribune reported at the time.

The South St. Paul headquarters is set to move, too, as reported by the Pioneer Press yesterday—but it’s staying in the Twin Cities. The new home base—yet to be secured, Williams says—is expected to open sometime in the fourth quarter.