Farewell, Canfield's. (Omaha, Center: sales, 2015, neighborhood)

[Aredhel]

Omaha's home-grown sporting goods store is shutting its doors after 71 years in business: Canfield's Sporting Goods to close after 71 years in business | Money | omaha.com

I love Canfield's, and will be sorry to see it go.

[Mark bridge]

This is uncanny.

A couple of weeks ago I was feeling nostalgic, so I started roaming my old neighborhood around 21st and Cass all the way up to 24th and Cummings (on Google Maps, that is since I now live in Ohio). I noticed that a parking lot occupies the space where Canfield's once was, so I thought, "Gee, I wonder if Canfield's is still around."

After Googling it, I see it's now out on Center Street. I thought that since it was so large it must be doing well. I was happy to see it doing so well. I can remember going into it on Cummings in the early '60s and window shopping (I was too poor to afford anything, I'm afraid).

Today, I come into the forum and see your post, Canfield's is closing! And the funny thing is, I haven't thought of Canfield's for....well, literally, decades until that day a couple of weeks ago when I looked on Google maps.

[Aredhel]

^^^That is eerie! I believe the store moved to its current location sometime in the mid 1990s.

I think a lot of us are surprised by Canfield's closing, because outwardly it did seem to be doing reasonably well. It had been nicely remodeled recently, and had just added a bicycle section. The announcement just seemed to come from nowhere. But I guess it's a case of appearances being deceptive. Apparently they lost their distribution contract with the Boy Scouts in 2015, which badly hurt the bottom line as sales to Scotes made up about 15% of their total business, and after that the competition from online vendors provided the final push.

Canfield's was my favorite outdoors store. I shopped there fairly regularly, and I'm really going to miss it.

[Happygolucky]

Canfield's really closed down about 4 years ago.......he sold the business lock, stock and barrel. The new owners turned it into a yuppy store. Jacked up the prices and drove away all the loyal customers away.

I remember shopping there when on Cummings Str. they had the coolest stuff and always walked out with something. They moved to Center Str and still had neat items. I always bought from them. The new owner took over and changed he did. They even pissed off the Boyscouts and lost the BS Store. It is too bad, I hate seeing a business close.

[Aredhel]

Originally Posted by Happygolucky

They even pissed off the Boyscouts and lost the BS Store.

I don’t think it’s fair to blame the new owner for that. Apparently the Scouts decided to set up their own national distribution chain, and they therefore canceled their contracts with all third-party vendors (not just Canfield’s). But since that Scout contract apparently represented 15% of their business, I think that was the beginning of the end for the store.