Cabela's rant

[Dry Heat?]

I'm aquatinted with several people that would buy something at Cabelas, use it on their Hunting or Fishing excursion, return it to Cabelas for a refund, then have a friend or family member go to the store the next morning and buy the same item out of their Bargain Cave! They thought that was a great scheme. Thankful, I live 2 miles from a Sportsmans Warehouse. They aren't a "destination store" like Cabelas but their prices are better and they have pretty much everything I need. Online is going to kill retail stores as these Millenials don't like to get off of the Couch. There are some good deals, but when I buy something, I'm used to holding it in my hands, check the quality.

The main reason Bass Pro bought them was because they were about a year from going under. The only part of the store that made any money was the credit card issuing. That was the only profitable department for about three years before they were bought. A big reason for their poor numbers was their return policy, which was chronically abused by people, and the lifetime warranty on their things, which was also badly abused by people for years.(yes, it was the stores fault for wording the policy as it was, but people abused a good thing, so now they have lost it) IMO its better to have them stay open and be bought by bass pro, than to close all together, which is what was going to happen.

I have seen great prices on some things, and bad ones on others. Good news is, they price match local competitors if need be.

 

[corsair4360]

We have a sportsmans warehouse less than 10 miles from the house. Cabelas is 70 miles away. I stopped shopping at Cabela's when they refused to permit return of defective boots. To bad so sad Bass Pro's, you lost my business

 

[mpayne]

I use to drive out to Cabelas in Post Falls ID when I was in Spokane just to look around the Bargin Cave, I've gotten some great deals over the years in there. Now its gone and there is generators being sold in the area. So now I'll just sit on a bench in the mall while my wife shops and watch the weirdos walk by.

 

[Bigaldepr]

My opinion is that they opened way too many stores in a short period of time. Like someone else commented- they were building brick and mortar when everyone else was going internet.
And not just run-of-the-mill brick and mortar, either.

In the financial world there is what is called Sustainable Growth Rate and when companies use debt to expand faster than what their business can financially support then bad things happen. This has been the downfall of many an otherwise good business.

 

[Pbethell]

It's been a dozen years or more ago, when the original Cabela's brothers sold out, it started changing then, but i'm With ya all, they're going downhill fast, and like others on this forum, i see the difference with the CCard as well. Cabelas had their own bank down in Lincoln, NE.

In our neck of the world, Sportmen's Warehouses are all over, i went in there a week ago with a friend, and was mortified by their powder prices as well.

I remember when Accurate was just starting out, with Mil surplus powders, just as Bruce Hodgdon had. This was before the Hazardous fees with UPS, and i bought a couple 8 lb jugs of 8700 (same as H870) for $20 shipped !!! Great magnum rifle ball powder ! Sorry about Cabelas, i remember my dad telling that Herters was a good outfit decades ago as well, they all have their day in the sun, too bad. Cabelas was good for many years

 

[Pbethell]

In some areas, Gander Mountain had some good deals, lots of stuff to choose from, etc. They went bankrupt over a year ago (again) and now they've reopened under the name Gander Outdoors

The Profit guy from TV (Marcus Lemonus) is the money guy behind that, so dont expect anything real good to come out of that. Ive been getting emails from them for several months, so far they haven't offered any deals on anything I'm interested in.

 

[Michael Souther]

I also had some great buys from Cabelas. But our local gun and sporting goods shop beats them all now. They do not carry as much stock so I occasionally need to order on line. Midway has some good sales and some times Brownells has great prices. I have used Natchez as well. Need to beat the hazmat. Pays to shop.

 

[Battering Ram]

I hate to say it, but everybody that I've read so far in this thread is right, Cabels is coming up short. When I was a kid it was the place to shop. Now I use the local guy or Sportsman's. Sad to see it come to this.

 

[Frog4aday]

I was worried that when Bass Pro bought Cabelas the prices would go up at both places since the 'competition' would be gone. I guess I didn't expect the loss in selection, degradation of customer service, and policy changes that affected the 'atmosphere' at Cabelas. Both stores are relatively far away for me so I shop them rarely, but when I have been to each of them, I enjoyed browsing, looking at the mounts, and watching the fish. Prices on guns were always higher than I could get them online and shipping through an FFL so I never bought guns from either store.

The store I did like and did buy guns from on occasion was SPORTSMANS WAREHOUSE, which I found was staffed by surprisingly competent people and their prices were competitive. Then they closed the San Antonio store, making them a non-option.

As so many of you have pointed out, growing online sales made the big expansion of brick and mortar Cabelas and Bass Pro stores a mistake (in retrospect) so perhaps the merger will buy them both some time? It seems the writing is on the wall and we will start to see store closings sooner rather than later in 'under-performing' markets.

Hopefully you all still have a good local gun store (LGS) you can frequent and 'keep alive' because as great as online shopping is, we still need a local FFL around to help with transfers and such. If they stock powder and primers, even better as we can buy from the LGS and avoid the big hazmat charges.

 

[Rainorshine]

Never bought anything from Bass Pro but bought lots from Cabelas over many years from the time when they had a newsprint catalog with mostly rod building and fly tying supplies. I'm still mostly order stuff on-line from them. When they opened a store about 90 miles away it became an event like trip to take the family once or twice a year. Now, since being bought by Bass Pro it seems like their selection is poor and their prices are well above other on-line sources and I agree with others regarding a loss in quality. My business is going mostly to Cabela's competitors.

 

[Bearjumper]

Besides the cost of goods going up, the selection of items has gone away. I put things into wish list, 2 weeks later, " no longer available" no message whether it's discontinued or back ordered. Starting to go back to my local privately owned shops to buy what I need. There prices are now competitive. No longer asking for gift certificates for birthday or Christmas

 

[Cbass1019]

I think Cabelas went down hill when they went public. I've been a Cabelas customer for 35+ years, but its getting closer to be the end.
Their customer service and their products both used to be absolutely top notch, but since the stock market got involved, thats gone.
I agree that BP seems to be intentionally screwing Cabelas. They even took out the Bargain Cave!

And soon gun library according to the employees at ours

 

[Dip182000]

I loved Cabelas, with gift cards and couponing I made some incredible deals on guns, safes, scopes. Bass pro bought it purely to nuke it IMO and man they are getting it done. Ill still find a random decent deal but nothing like in the past.

I also have already been lied to and screwed by the Capitol one club transition. I sent a strongly worded letter (sure that did a lot of good ) explaining they had lost my credit business and why it seems from speaking with other this is not one off. I personally know of aroung 100k a year in credit usage that has ended since the purchase.

Cancelling our black card as soon as I use the points. no bargain cave Gets me, where I got my smoker and commercial grinder, scopes, list goes on. Also all product I wanted were 15-20% cheaper elsewhere. Sucks to lose your favorite store.

 

[graderguy]

SAD SAD SAD!!!! Used to be a Cabelas shopper. BP has ruined the quality.