The new owner of the Gander Mountain outdoor goods retail chain is now saying he intends to keep 70 or more stores open.

Marcus Lemonis, Star of the CNBC show “The Profit", is also the Chairman and CEO of recreational vehicle retailer Camping World, which just bought the Gander Mountain name and leases to the existing 160 stores including the building at the Eastwood Mall Complex in Niles.

During a conference call last week, Lemonis said that his company was only obligated to keep 17 stores open.

But in a video posted Sunday on the social media site Periscope, Lemonis said he estimates that 70 or 75 stores will stay open.  He said even more stores could be kept in operation “if rent gets a little bit better.”

The video, which Lemonis addressed to Gander Mountain employees and customers, is an addition to messages he has been posting on Twitter to clarify what he intends to do with Gander Mountain, and Overton, which sells boating accessories and parts.

Lemonis has Tweeted twice about the Niles store, which has been at its current Niles Cortland Road location for little more than a year.

He has Tweeted that he hasn’t yet decided the fate of the Eastwood store, saying he’s “still working on it.”

The four-minute video makes it clear that Lemonis won’t keep unprofitable stores open, and points out that employee commitment and the cost of leasing the property are key factors in making those decisions.

Inventory liquidation sales are going on at all the stores. 

Lemonis has said he plans to have decisions made by early October, but in the meantime will continue to provide updates on Twitter.

Below is a transcript of the Lemonis Periscope video:

I wanted to do a quick video update on what's happening with Gander Mountain as opposed to continuing to post things.

Gander Mountain filed for bankruptcy not too long ago.

Over the last ten days, myself along with the camping world team went in and bought the intellectual property, the brand, the assets, Overton.com, gander.com, and the rights to all the leases.

What we did not buy is the inventory that is in all of the stores, the distribution center, a group of liquidators bought that.

Through this process, the liquidators have the right to sell all of the inventory.

All of the employees in the stores need to be helpful in making sure that they are able to recover their money.

But, over the last several days I've been posting the number of locations that are going to stay open even after the inventory is liquidated. We'll buy new inventory.

Today we control all 160 leases.

But it is my estimation that we are going to end up having around 70, maybe 75 stores if rent gets a little bit better, maybe more than that.

I have continued to post individual updates on what stores are staying, what stores are going, and i will continue to do that. So you'll have to read through my stream to find that.

Look, I know this way of communicating is a bit unorthodox, and most people are taken a bit back by it, but I continue to see news reports from news organizations in cities that where Gander Mountains exist that all stores are closing, and they are not.

All stores are liquidating, and the inventory in there is going to go away, but the stores aren't closing.

My goal is to open at least 70, remain and keep them operating as Gander Mountain; potentially adding a small Camping World or Overton to them, and run them. And run a good business.

It's up to the local staff, the manager to run that store profitably.

I will not be picking stores that do not have a clear path to profitability. I will not do that under any circumstance.

Additionally, we acquired the assets of Overton, overton.com, and we will be closing on that in the next ten or fifteen days.

Overton.com and gandermountain.com will operate out of Greenville, North Carolina.

There are currently two Overton stores, one in Greenville, one in Raleigh.  Those will both continue to operate.

My goal is to open ten or fifteen more Overton's across the country in markets where we think it makes sense inside of a Camping World store, or at least connected to a camping world store.

We believe the Gander Mountain brand and the Overton brand have a ton of value.

What I'm learning this week is that the heart and soul of this company really resides in the people who work in the stores, the people who are very concerned about what's happening. I hear you. I'm doing the best I can to keep things moving.

In addition, the base camp, the headquarters in St. Paul, I'm working with the landlords to try to get something worked out where we can keep the offices in downtown St. Paul. That is my goal, but again, if it's not profitable, it doesn't make sense, we're not going to be able to keep it that particular building.

There are a lot of good folks up in St. Paul, a lot of good folks in the Lebanon distribution center, and at the end of the day this company failed because it made some giant inventory mistakes and just bought too much. Not the wrong stuff, just too much.

And it didn't necessarily understand how to operate in a low-cost environment.

Our goal is to see the business survive and thrive and to take care of all the people who work there.

If you are watching this video and know someone who works for Gander Mountain, or if you are a customer or know a customer, please re-tweet this. Pass this along so people can get the information.

I'll try to do this every couple of days in addition to the tweets. Thanks very much.