Camping World Holdings, Inc. is an American corporation specializing in selling recreational vehicles, recreational vehicle parts, and recreational vehicle service. They also sell supplies for camping. The company has its headquarters in Lincolnshire, Illinois. In October 2016 it became a publicly traded company when it raised $251 million in an IPO. Camping World operates 120 retail/service locations in 36 states, and also sells goods through mail order and online. It claims to be the world's largest supplier of RV parts and supplies. Recently, it has become the title sponsor of the Camping World Stadium, as well as the Camping World Bowl, which is played in the same stadium. It’s also the official presenting sponsor of MLB’sLeague Championship Series.
History
Camping World began in 1966 with a small store in Beech Bend Park, an amusement park outside of Bowling Green which billed its campground as the world's largest. Campers at the park were requesting a store where they could buy supplies, so David Garvin—son of the park's owner—took out a loan and opened the store. Garvin amassed a large customer list as the years went by, which proved to be a windfall later when he added a mail-order division to the company. That division thrived, fueling the company's growth for years to come. In 1997, Garvin sold the company to the current owners, Good Sam Enterprises, of Ventura, California. In 2005, Garvin announced plans for a huge development near Franklin, Kentucky called "Garvin's". The development, described by Garvin as "a combination of Disney World, Camping World and Bass Pro Shops", will feature a large Camping World store with RV 250 service bays; a five-story, 650,000 square foot permanent RV trade show and exhibition area; a "free range" campground with dry-camping sites; a camping museum; and much more. Due to the recession however the venture never got off the ground and much of the land proposed for development was sold at auction in October 2011. In early October 2016 Camping World raised $251 million in an initial public offering. The 11.4 million shares sold for $22 each. Lemonis co-owns the company with private equity firm Crestview Partners and plans to retain "substantial control" through his ownership of ML Acquisition and ML R.V. Group.
Operations
Under the Freedom Roads brand, the company sells RVs through a network of about three dozen independent dealers. In 2007, the company opened the Camping World RV Sales dealership; formerly known as Stout's RV. It is located on Interstate 65 south of Indianapolis, Indiana. Since then, the chain of dealerships has expanded to more than 100 locations. The company also operates RVs.com. In 2017, the company expanded into hunting and fishing gear by acquisition of Gander Mountain, which includes the Gander Outdoors and Overton's brands.
Camping World was introduced as the new sponsor of the NASCAR Truck Series, replacing 13-year sponsor Sears through its Craftsman brand. The sponsorship started in 2009, and will last until 2022. On May 8, 2018, NASCAR announced an extension of Camping World Holdings' involvement in NASCAR, including a rebrand of the Truck Series to the Gander Outdoors Truck Series, a move made as Camping World's 2017 acquisition of the brand has allowed them to brand the series with an outdoors store.
