Cabela’s Thrift and Surplus Shop

[WTNUT]

Okay, I have been working a lot again and away from the forum. I will catch up soon. In the meantime, is it just me or does Cabela’s look like a thrift shop, army navy surplus or a consignment shop since Bass Pro took over? I have a store within 2O minutes and It is a mess every day.


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[yoderjac]

I stopped at Bass Pro the other day to pick up a treestand that I can called and had them put on hold because it was low in stock. Customer service was horrible. They told me to go to the archery counter when I talked to them on the phone. When I got to the archery counter, the worker was screwing around tracing targets. He seemed perturbed that he had to deal with me. He said he knew nothing about it. Next he called customer service downstairs and tried to pawn me off on them. They told him to call receiving to check on it and he told them to do it. After a short spat of telling each other they were lazy, the guy at the counter finally relented and called receiving. Receiving told him they had it.

Next he wrote out some kind of ticket with the sku number on it and gave it to me to take to the register. When I got to the register, the cashier didn't know how much to charge me because he had not written the amount on the ticket. She call him and they fought for a bit. Finally she got off the phone and walked away. I'm not sure where she went but she came back in about 5 minutes with the price (which was, of course, exactly the amount I had told her). She ran my credit card and sent me to customer pickup around the back of the complex with the receipt.

I drove around back and found customer pickup despite her very poor directions. I pushed the button. I could not hear if it was ringing inside. I waited about 5 minutes and tried again. After a few more minutes I started pounding on the door. Finally, someone right on the other side of the door said, "just a minute". About 15 minutes later the door opened and I gave him the paperwork. It only took him about 5 minutes to find the stand and bring it to the door.

On the positive side, he did help me load it.

I never had employees openly argue at Cabela's, but I've only been there once since the merger.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Telemark]

It's weird, but I suspect it's corporate shenanigans from big-wigs looking to goose profits in the short term to make themselves look good. I think that's what happened to Gander Mountain as well. I spoke to a few people about it, and they suggested the company's structure basically went into chaos because high-level corporate guys were screwing around trying to get profits up for six months so they look good on paper. Meanwhile, the cost-cutting and restructuring wasn't sustainable and led mayhem down the line.

 

[mikmaze]

lite em up on faceplace, only god thing about fp is it gets noticed....... promise to do a follow up and visit to se if they addressed the problem. I hate places like that, look like a tornado went through, a dozen people folding shirts, while the rest of the store looks like detroit.

 

[WTNUT]

It is like they are trying to eliminate a significant amount of the hunting merchandise, and every night they come in a move things to a new location in the store. I kid you not. When I am working out of my main office, I go eat lunch and stop by Cabela’s at least 4 days a week (or I use to). I liked to stop by see what was on sale and what was in the Bargain Cave. Well they have done away with the Bargain Cave. They have a clearance room, not sure what’s because 35% of the merchandise in the store is on “clearance” all the time. I agree employee moral and service is at an all time low. And, they are moving merchandise from store to store. If something does not sell in Arkansas for example, they move it to Texas. So crap comes and goes on a few days notice. The presentation of that crap really is like a thrift shop.

I just returned from an elk archery hunt in New Mexico and stopped at Bass Pro in Springfield, Missouri. Now I will say that is Bass Pro’s Tau Mahal. They would be well served to take a few flakes of gold from that place and sprinkle it around in other locations.




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[bueller]

I heard from someone in the know that Cabela's was a failing company before bass pro stepped in to save them. Based on that I'd expect the Cabela's of tomorrow to look nothing like the Cabela's of the past.

 

[WTNUT]

I heard from someone in the know that Cabela's was a failing company before bass pro stepped in to save them. Based on that I'd expect the Cabela's of tomorrow to look nothing like the Cabela's of the past.

Yes, there had been a 20 to 24% decline in stock prices prior to the merger. So things were not good, but Bass Pro is a long way from saving them. As you probably know, Cabelas decided to go with an IPO and was publicly traded. It is a real same the Cabelas brothers didn’t have family that could keep it going as opposed to the IPO, but it probably was the safest thing for the family to do.

Bass Pro has always seemed to focus more on fishing and that is a shame for the hunters. On a positive note, you may see somewhat of a resurgence of the local or regions stores that specialize in hunting items. Cabelas hurt a lot of them over the years.


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[yoderjac]

I wonder if they plan to take one of the brands and focus it on non-consumptive sports like Dick's and focus the other brand on consumptive sports like hunting and fishing.

 

[Big Snow Man]

I wonder if they plan to take one of the brands and focus it on non-consumptive sports like Dick's and focus the other brand on consumptive sports like hunting and fishing.

Can you translate that into English for us that don’t have the Yoder dictionary?

 

[yoderjac]

Can you translate that into English for us that don’t have the Yoder dictionary?

What is it you don't understand? Consumptive sports are those like hunting and fishing that consume a resource (fish, game). Non-consumptive sports use resources but don't consume them (hiking, biking, golf, ...). Dick's recently got themselves into trouble. They yielded to pressure from anti-gun groups and pulled a firearm and made a public statement. I'm sure they new they were pissing off the hunting and fishing customers, but made a calculated business decision that things were trending away from consumptive sports and were trying to get ahead of the trend. They do a lot more business with non-consumptive sports.

My point is many folks in the general public now associate the Dick's brand with that action (for good or bad from their viewpoint). Since Cabela's and Bass Pro were competitors, they have stores in fairly close proximity. So, rather than closing one store or the other, I wonder if they plan to take one brand (Cabela's for example) and focus on sports like golf, football, tennis, biking, hiking, camping, and such and take the other brand (Bass Pro in this example) and focus it more on hunting and fishing.

Regardless if they are owned by a single company, by creating a structure with somewhat independent presidents, the public would tend to associate politically sensitive decisions with one brand or the other.

I'm not suggesting this is a good thing, simply wondering if that is what they plan to do slowly over time. Society seems to be more bifurcated than ever.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[WTNUT]

My guess is that it will be like all other “mergers” between large corporate entities. One is in control immediately, they looked to see if the “merged in entity” has any middle or upper level managers they want to keep, look to see if any processes policies, etc. need to be adopted, and within 2 years give or take the ship is flying solely under the banner of the entity that acquired the other.


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[loshonhora]

cabela's brand hunting clothes are/were the best. i'll be sad when i need to replace my insulated outerwear.

 

[cavey]

If Cabela's had focused on marketing good products at fair prices instead of trying to create a network of tourist attractions and stocking flashy fad items maybe they would have been better off. Its frustrating trying to buy quality fishing and hunting items at fair prices when you have to wade through a store filled -- as mentioned above -- with "non consumptive" sporting goods. I understand wanting to market to every outdoor niche on the planet but it would be nice to have some of these large chains use their buying power to fill a niche market focusing on what made them successful in the first place.
As for politicizing their company's name - Dick's can bite it, they made a very public political move in what should be a neutral environment. I have no doubt it was a gamble to break away from and distance themselves from the traditional hunting and fishing markets; something which they had already done in order to cater to a more hip and liberal customer base. Its an image projection thing for them with a purposeful intent to alienate.
Their markets are now neon jogging shorts and pretty paddle boards not buck tails and bullets. They do not even want people like us walking in through their doors. (they were and still are the last place I would have shopped regardless of their anti-black gun move anyways). I hope they choke on their profit line.

 

[Diesel5610]

Always stop at the Sidney store on our way to elk camp every year. This year was the last year we will be taking the time to do that unless something changes. As was mentioned the store was very different and seemed in disarray and they had a whole 3 small racks of camouflage, it was unbelievable. It looked like a Dick's with mounts. Tons of Under Armour and North Face clothing and no hunting clothes. We were also told the bargain cave was no more. You could see the writing on the wall, sad.

 

[Bill]

I stopped buying Cabelas branded stuff.
When an independent company had high sales through cabelas they would come out with a cabelas brand knockoff. Pretty shameful as far as I'm concerned. Screw your suppliers for margins and tell them to suck it up..

 

[Peeps]

I was in the Green Bay store a couple weeks ago looking for some ammo that online said was in stock there. Couldn’t find it do I asked a clerk. He looked sad and told me they probably don’t have it and won’t be getting it. He said big changes were coming to the selection of ammo they carry in store.

 

[ksgobbler]

Much better places to buy stuff like Dunn's, Roger's, etc.