Camping World Holdings, Inc. is an American corporation specializing in selling recreational vehicles (RVs), 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.[3][4] Camping World operates over 180 retail/service locations in 46 states,[5] and also sells goods through mail order and online. It claims to be the world's largest supplier of RV parts and supplies.
Camping World began in 1966[6] with a small store in Beech Bend Park, an amusement park outside of Bowling Green, Kentucky, 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 sagacious later when he added a mail-order division to the company. That division thrived, fueling the company's growth for years to come.
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 (60,000 m2) permanent RV trade show and exhibition area; a "free-range" campground with dry-camping sites; 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.[8]
In early October 2016 Camping World raised $251 million in an initial public offering. The 11.4 million shares sold for $22 each. Marcus 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.[3]
Under the Freedom Roads brand, the company sells RVs through a network of about three dozen independent dealers.[9] 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.[10][11] Since then, the chain of dealerships has expanded to more than 100 locations.[12]
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.[13]
In December 2020, Lemonis announced a partnership with electric vehicle manufacturer Lordstown Motors. The deal stated that Camping World act as the service and maintenance provider for the Lordstown Endurance pickup truck, as well as potentially marketing and selling the truck at their Camping World centers. As of June 2021, the two companies announced the deal was off.[14]
Sports sponsorship
Camping World has major sponsorship involvement in sports, particularly college football and auto racing. In a 2020 interview with Autoweek, Lemonis emphasized the importance of a "conversion rate of familiarity" for sports fans—particularly those from racing series—into potential Camping World customers.[15]
Camping World became the title sponsor of NASCAR's Truck Series in 2009, replacing 13-year sponsor Sears through its Craftsman brand (since sold to Stanley Black & Decker). The sponsorship started in 2009 and will last until 2022.[27]
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.[28] After two years with Gander Outdoors branding (the second of which was as the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series), the series reverted to the Camping World Truck Series name in 2021.[29][30]
In February 2021, in response to the previous season's Truck Series champion Sheldon Creed's truck running nearly unsponsored during the first two races of the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Lemonis made a "challenge" to all unsponsored teams for the 2021Bucked Up 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His deal was to give teams $15,000 just to have the truck wrapped in Camping World colors and logos, $25,000 if the truck comes in the top 10, $35,000 for a top 5, and $50,000 if the truck wins. Numerous drivers and owners took Lemonis up on his offer, including Creed.[33] Lemonis' sponsorship campaign continued in later races, with his other companies like Good Sam also being involved, and included supporting NASCAR Xfinity Series teams.[34][35][36]
Ahead of its inaugural season in June 2021, Camping World became the title sponsor for the Superstar Racing Experience, naming it the Camping World SRX Series. The collaboration was led by Lemonis' donation to the Plating Change charity.[37]
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