Camping World parks by RV lots.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

JUNCTION CITY - They may need to rename this town RV City.

Camping World, which bills itself as the world's largest supplier of RV accessories and camping equipment, has opened a new 23,000-square-foot store and service center at 93668 Highway 99, next to Guaranty RV Centers, and just down the road from the Country Coach factory.

The store carries about 8,000 items for campers and RVers, from tents and sleeping bags to cooking ranges and holding tanks, and has a service center where technicians service and do installations on motor homes.

Camping World officials approached Guaranty about four years ago about building a store next to Guaranty's RV sales lots in Junction City, said Shannon Nill, general manager of Guaranty RV Centers.

At one point, someone asked whether they'd rather build on the interstate to take advantage of the traffic, he said.

"They said, `You don't understand, we want to be by Guaranty,' " Nill said.

So the Nill family built the store and leased it to Camping World.

Camping World has similar partnership arrangements with RV dealers in other cities.

Both Nill and Camping World officials said it's a mutually beneficial arrangement.

"We complement each other with the products we sell," Camping World spokesman Vince Milam said. "Because of the traffic a Camping World brings into its stores, a dealer can leverage off that. We leverage off his traffic as well."

Guaranty RV Centers, founded in 1966 by Herb Nill, sells 60 different brands of new and used RVs - from tent trailers and fifth-wheels to luxury motor homes - at five locations.

Camping World, a privately held company based in Bowling Green, Ky., has about 50 stores across the United States and plans to open eight to 10 stores this year, Milam said.

The Junction City store is Camping World's second in Oregon; the Wilsonville store is its busiest store, Nill said.

"Camping World is like Cabela's for motor home people," said Pancho Fulton, a salesman at Guaranty RV Centers, referring to the Nebraska-based purveyor of hunting, fishing and camping gear.

RVers will travel a long way to shop at a Camping World, Fulton said.

"People from Bend, Redmond, Northern California will come up to take advantage of Camping World," he said.

Carl Youngblood drove down from Corvallis on Wednesday to pick up a few items for his new travel trailer. He said he's a big Camping World fan, and he's glad that he doesn't have to drive all the way to Wilsonville any more.

"They needed a store like this bad," he said. "I'm happier than blazes they're here."

A grand opening is planned for June 22-25.

CAPTION(S):

Jan and Mike Reel of Eugene leave after purchasing a propane tank cover at Camping World in Junction City.