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Boarded Up: ‘The House’ Retailer Shuts Down, Lays Off Staff

Minnesota-based retailer The House will shut down all its operations and lay off 90 workers.

A Minnesota snowboarder in helmetSkiers race across Lake Mille Lacs in Garrison, Minnesota. Nearby retailer The House will be going out of business; (photo/Shutterstock)
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A longtime outdoor retailer in Minnesota is closing its doors and liquidating all its inventory, according to news reports. The House, an outdoor shop owned by Active Sports, will shut down its retail store and warehouse in Little Canada, including layoffs of about 90 workers, Minnesota’s Star Tribune reported. 

Active Sports, an online retailer of outdoor gear including bikes and snowboards, made the move after deciding to restructure its operations, according to a letter sent to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development last week, the Star Tribune wrote. 

But Active Sports may soon see the end of its operations as well. It’s owned by Illinois-based retailer Camping World Holdings, Inc., which announced the restructuring of its subsidiary in a March 1 letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

“These plans, when completed, will result in the liquidation of primarily all of its assets and closure of the Active Sports business and are anticipated to result in the impairment of certain long-lived assets associated with the Active Sports business,” the letter said. “The company currently estimates the total impairment charges associated with these restructuring activities to be between $11 million and $16 million.”

Camping World 4th-Quarter Losses

Camping World acquired Active Sports and its online component, The-House.com, in 2017. The House website is now holding a liquidation sale online.

A representative of Camping World did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Its subsidiaries, The House and Active Sports, could not be reached for comment. 

However, Camping World saw fourth-quarter losses in 2022, when earnings dropped by nearly 2,000%, Yahoo News reported. The U.S. retail sector experienced its biggest sales drop in 12 months this January, reflecting broader economic trends, according to Reuters

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