Bankrupt Big Rock Sports problems were ‘open secret’ in the trade

Industry insiders say that they are not surprised by the news that one of North America’s leading distributors of fishing tackle has filed for bankruptcy.

Described as ‘an open secret’ within the trade, Big Rock Sports, the 71-year-old North Carolina business, has gone under, listing just over $100m in liabilities. Unsecured claims totaling about $83m – and including many vendors in litigation – are not expected to be paid.

A large customer of Big Rock Sports told Angling International that the business has been ‘under the cosh’ for quite a while. “It’s been coming,” he said.

The Canadian arm of Big Rock Sports filed for bankruptcy in December, laying off 72 staff just before Christmas. One of those affected – an industry veteran of 35 years and employee for over nine years – said that the company had been ‘floundering’ and not paying vendors.

A US vendor, who also claimed to be owed money, said businesses now face the task of adequately trying to fill pegs left behind and were resorting to regional distributors. “There were a lot of retailers who never thought they needed another distributor until they stopped getting their orders,” he told Angling International.

A leading supplier to the tackle trade added: “My understanding is that the beginning of the end came from outside ownership increasingly disconnected from the fishing industry.

“Combined with an evolving distributor and retail landscape, it led to mismanagement in logistics and systems. My hope is that this isn’t a sign of what’s ahead for others backed by the flood of PE and outside investment capital that entered the fishing industry over the last several years.”

It has been reported that vendors holding the biggest unsecured claims tied to litigation include Pure Fishing, Rather Outdoors and Okuma Fishing Tackle Corporation.

Big Rock had three North Carolina facilities and a product inventory of over 180,000 SKUs in more than 600,000sqft of warehouse space at four regional US distribution centres and three in Canada.