Is a Camping World march to domination inevitable? Marcus Lemonis, the company CEO, makes no bones about it. He wants the company to have 320 locations in the U.S. by 2029. Last July, Lemonis sent out yet another media release touting another capture, this time in the Cowboy State (Wyoming). But in what must be major chagrin for Lemonis, the Camping World takeover got a major rebuff. Sonny’s RV, near Casper, Wyoming, rethought the offer and called it off.
Target: Family RV operation
Like a lot of Camping World’s targets, Sonny’s RV started out as a genuine family operation. It all goes back to the early 1950s, when Marvin Rone was drawn to Wyoming. He was looking for work, and found it in the oil fields. Like a lot of oil workers, Marvin and the family traveled from job to job, and to make it possible, they lived in an RV. It wasn’t easy for a family of six and, eventually, he settled down in a pegged-down job. He partnered up with a mobile home sales outfit.
This eventually led to Rone’s “dabbling” in motorhome sales. Marvin got his son, Sonny, involved in the mobile home business. Sonny got in on the dirty side, doing setups, teardowns, and mobile home repairs. In a few years, Sonny moved on to the RV industry directly. He got a job as the general manager of an RV dealership. Sonny pulled in his son, Mike Rone, and put him to work. Mike recalls his position as “lot lizard.” Mike washed rigs, moved them around, kept the lot up, and the like. Eventually Mike moved up to an assignment in the service department and then into sales. The stage was set for a family move.
In the late 1990s, Sonny started his own dealership, Sonny’s RV Sales. It wasn’t anywhere close to a Camping World-size operation. Son Mike recalls, “He started with a handful of RVs, two acres of land with a shop and a sales office.” But things grew from there, and by 2008, Mike joined his dad’s operation, handling the parts and service side of the company. In 25 years, Sonny and Mike saw a lot of changes, and a lot of company growth. The tiny two-acre lot grew to 15 acres of inventory, two acres for an RV park, and a four-acre RV storage yard.
Camping World takeover “handled professionally”
All that growth didn’t go without attention. Last year, Camping World came calling at the Rones’ dealership. Was a Camping World takeover in the making? By this time, Mike Rone was “in the driver’s seat” at the dealership. He recalls having multiple telephone conversations and Zoom video conferences with Marcus Lemonis. The Camping World CEO also came by the Wyoming dealership. Camping World staffers made repeated visits over a two-month span. Recalls Mike Rone, “Everything was handled professionally; no different than negotiating any other deal.”
On July 10, 2023, Camping World let loose what has become a common press release: “Camping World Set to Acquire Sonny’s RVs in Casper, Wyoming.” The release read, in part, that the big company was “set to acquire Sonny’s RVs in Casper, Wyoming. The transaction is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2023.” CEO Lemonis added, “Sonny’s RVs is one of the marquee operators in our industry, and together with our newly opened Cheyenne location we are driving towards the #1 spot in Wyoming.”
Drive ’til the wheels fall off
But the wheels fell off Lemonis’ drive toward that #1 Wyoming spot earlier this month. Casper, Wyoming, media outlet Oil City News had this announcement: “Casper’s Sonny’s RV will remain family-owned after a potential sale to Illinois-based Camping World was called off,” read the paper. “After announcing the potential sale last July, Sonny’s RV general manager and owner Mike Rone said the family ultimately decided to remain local.”
“They painted this beautiful picture for us that this would be great for the employees, great for the community, and after months of negotiations we dug a bit deeper and found that it wasn’t the best fit for our community,” said Rone in a phone interview with Oil City News. “We just decided to pass on the deal, and we’re going to stay here and continue to make this thing grow.”
Digging deeper lead to revelations
“Not the best fit for our community,” indeed. We asked Mike Rone for a little more insight on the family decision that led to the Camping World takeover turndown. Rone told us, “When Sonny and I entered negotiations with Camping World, our focus was how is this going to affect our employees, customers, and the local community?” Digging deeper led to some revelations. “Our employees had several months to process the fact that they were going to work for the largest corporate dealer in America and, in the end, they voiced their concerns of wanting to continue to work for a locally owned family business.”
Additionally, the Rone family felt Camping World just didn’t have what it takes to look after local communities. “As business owners,” says Rone, “we are devoted to the Casper community and state.” He mentioned several non-profit organizations that company has helped support. “Our philosophy is, if we did not have the community supporting us, we would not be in business. Giving back to the community is a small token of our appreciation to our local customers. We did not feel that Camping World shared these same values of putting employees first, giving back to the community, and appreciation for customers.”
Rather than getting a “fourth quarter close” in 2023, the Camping World takeover got the big “No thanks” a few weeks ago. We wondered, how would Marcus Lemonis and his outfit react to getting the equivalent of the bride walking out of the church before the service started? Mike Rone tells us the company was “quiet,” which he described as “rightfully so.”
And the future for Sonny’s RVs?
With the “wedding called off,” the Rone family has had the opportunity to ponder the company’s future. In a move that should benefit both the company and the Casper area community, Sonny’s RV plans on some expansion. During their busy months, 25 to 30 folks are on the payroll. Rone says he hopes to see five or ten more working for the dealership that told Camping World, “No thanks!”
##RVT1140
It would be interesting to talk to similar dealerships and employees about the changes since their CW take overs.
Camping World Take Over. I have not found it to be helpful. We have several in our area. At one they did nothing but complain about short staff. No updates on my RV. Waited OVER 1 hour for my rv to be brought around to the front! I let them list my RV. Tried to sell it for MORE than I paid for it 6 years ago! I looked at the market, sold it in less than 30 days in a “soft” market. I have a new take over in my area. I left a message. It said they would return my call, emails, same thing radio silence. Great RV commercials! Follow up, action on calls the turtle up around company “Policy”. Trust me I got more!
Casper will be better without the CW ownership! Smart!
Sounds like a great family decision. It’s not always about the Benjamin’s.
Good for these owners! Hard to believe that it took almost to up to signing day for them to realize that Camping World doesn’t share their small town values though. That’s something most every RV’er with any experience at all already knows.
Smart move
Good for the Rone family! Sure hope CW doesn’t build a cross the road and run them out of business.
I agree. CW bought a small RV dealership in a rural area near us. The residents fought the changes CW wanted to make, to no avail. Now they have to put up with noise, traffic and lights. Money talks!
CW is not the only player in the corporate RV dealer consolidation game. I agree with ToolMan that it would be interesting to hear follow-up opinions from the employees after a family run dealership sells to one of these corporations. At the same time, if those people are still getting a paycheck from the new owner, I suspect many would be unwilling to put their jobs at risk. And of the former employees, who knows which ones were already on the edge and simply have an axe to grind?
CW doesn’t care about the old employees. Most are replaced with low paid younger ones.
The one near us has has replaced every one, including the service people with Marcus’ hand picked ones.
The sales people and parts people are clueless. Just ask one of the sales people a technical question about the RV, or how something operates, and wait for the blank stare or some totally off the wall answer. Then ask them if they own one.
At my dealer I can actually talk to the service manager or one of the techs.
Too bad others don’t stand up to these corporate giants and say no thanks. Congrats Sonny’s for sticking to your roots.
If you hear anything mentioned about CW…get on the starting blocks and run like Jesse Owens….away. Same goes for any of the other corporate thieves.
Congratulations to them for not selling out. CW has degraded their own dealerships to the point of very little stock in the stores. Did say that very well but CW stores have gone to H—-
Shop mostly and local stores and Dyers Rv.
Glad Sonny’s considered the community and the employees. They did the right thing. I hope Lemonis now stays away and doesn’t engage in tactics to destroy Sonny’s the way he’s done in other deals that didn’t turn out in his favor.
This makes me happy. Anti-trust is the enemy of efficient markets.
I now have another, new favorite, RV dealership in Sonny’s !! Next time we’re in that area we’ll stop by for a visit, and purchase something, anything, to show how much we appreciate their decision to remain loyal to their employees and neighbors. Well done Rones !!
Right on Bill. I put them on my travel list too! We have a CW here which took over a large Rv dealer. Visited this store twice in 4 years! Used to be a monthly visit for something, or just to say hi to friends – now all gone!
CW will now open a Facility across the Street and try to destroy them.
Good for Sonny’s.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! How wonderful that they backed out of the sale. 🙂 I cannot imagine how anyone would swallow Camping World claims to do anything helpful to the community or employees.
Good for them. CW rebranded our Gander Mountain here in Amarillo Tx. They bought out a well established family owned dealership here and then closed it down. They recently closed up the CW here and moved on.
Excellent!!!
I don’t like camping world. Their customer service sucks and are expensive. We went to buy a new camper in KC and when we told them we wouldn’t buy that day the salesman walked off. So we drove down the road a couple of miles and bought one for $100,000+ Never go back
Good, glad they called it off. Large companies like that could care less of employees or communities, just out to line their pockets off of someone else’s back!
Especially in Wyoming.
Camping World took over our Gander Mountian and a local dealer in Amarillo. CW has now closed the former Gander location. I hate seeing empty buildings.
Good for them. CW has the worst reputation yet they continue to grow because they are attempting to monopolize the industry. Does anyone else find it ironic that “lemon” is actually in his name?