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. Camping World operates over 180 retail/service locations in 46 states, and also sells goods through mail order and online. It claims to be the world's largest supplier of RV parts and supplies.
The company is heavily involved in sponsorship of sports entities, such as serving as the title sponsor of Camping World Stadium and the Camping World Kickoff, which is played in the same stadium. It is currently the presenting sponsor of the National Hot Rod Association's Camping World Drag Racing Series and the Professional Bull Riders' Team Series. It was also the official presenting sponsor of Major League Baseball's League Championship Series and NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series.
History
Camping World began in 1966 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 1997, Garvin sold the company to the current owners, Good Sam Enterprises (formerly Affinity Group), 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 (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.
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.
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.
In December 2020, Lemonis announced a partnership with electric vehicle manufacturer Lordstown Motors. The deal will see 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. Lordstown Motors will sell batteries to power Camping World electric trailers, as well as help design and manufacture an all-electric motor home at their Lordstown Assembly Plant. The motor home, dubbed the "Class E motor home/RV" is meant to cater to the motor home customers of the future.
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.
Since 2016, the company has held the naming rights to Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, and also sponsors the stadium's Camping World Kickoff college football game. The stadium's bowl game was known as the Camping World Bowl from 2017 to 2019.
In 2017, the company became the inaugural title sponsor of Major League Baseball's League Championship Series. This sponsorship lasted through 2022.
In 2023, the company became the inaugural title sponsor of the Professional Bull Riders' Team Series.
