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Reviews?

Cabelas is Cabelas is my bet. I get there often enough when I stop in every 3-5 years in the lesser four-eight.

don' tell me Mike.... Homer is getting one?

If you mean the big Cabelas stores with the diorama in the center we are impressed by them. There is no other gun store like that.

They make our outdoor sports look good. A 'mall' just for us.

they've opened up enough stores they have a handle on how to do so.

know the guy that ran the electrical part of the new C in Anchorage

said it was one of the smoothest jobs ever

My boys really wanted to go, sooo I took them there at about 1pm yesterday. Since I have been to several of them I knew what to expect, but it is still an impressive store. We walked around for about 30 min then got the hell out of there. I have never seen so many people in a store in my life. They estimated some 8000 people showed up, with some folks camping out the night before. I will go back in about 2 weeks once things have calmed down a bit as its only about 2 miles from my house.

They are very good business people....no doubt!

I've used their VISA card for a decade and I find their English speaking people to be the best CC company I've ever worked with.

That said, I'm pleased to hear that Bass Pro will open close to Mountain View as those folks need a near-by ammo supply.

I am just a bit closer yet at under 1.5 miles on Google maps... Went to an early opening on Tuesday and it was nuts. There are some serious goofballs in there. One of their "outfitters" told a woman the burbot in the tank were like a cross between a trout and a catfish...

I was in town shipping at the airport this seasons supplies and started to drive over - but when I was halfway there I had second thoughts and turned around. Sounds like I made the right decision

You made the right choice for sure. They even had APD there doing traffic control. There were so many people that the Target parking lot was full and folks were parking along C st. I had no faith that all their "outfitters" would be experts anyways. Luckily for us we usually know what we are looking for and how to use it, just might need to be pointed in the right direction to find it in there.

Wish I had been able to make it.

Glad I could not.

They didn't have a go-to guy!

Artsy-
In Cabela-speak, outfitter means 'sales associate'?

did you try to fish them out?.. Maybe Riley can tie something up that would work?

Oh, and kid - no Cabelas in Homer.










Yet.

Forgive the intrusion into your conversation. Down here at a relatively new Cabelas it is the same story. Good gear, nice store folks, many are Sportsmen who have certain experience and a lot of hard working young people who like what we like but cannot match what we know because of the miles we have traveled. It is what it is. I for one am glad to have access to their wares as seeing gear first hand is an education.

They built two in the Denver area, separated by about 15-20 miles just north and south of downtown Denver. Neither of these stores has the character of the store in Sydney Nebraska. The used gun prices are out of this world and the new gun prices are nearly as bad. The customer service I will say is excellent. Within 5 miles of the north store there is a Sportsman's warehouse and a Gander Mountain. I wonder how long it will take before they fold their tents and move on. To be fair the Sportsman's Warehouse prices are very good compared to Cabelas. The big draw for me to Cabelas is that I can get stuff sent straight to the store and not have to pay shipping costs.

Tuesday was the first time I'd ever been in a Cabelas. It was actually pretty cool - I'd imagine it will be much better when some of the new wears off, if that ever happens.

Lots of taxidermy in there that I hope they bought in the dark.

Anything with lipstick?

If they are going to honor catalog prices and orders, I'm in. I do my best to shop local joints every chance I get, but if I hear "We're out of stock and no telling when we'll get restocked" one more time, I will shop at the box stores. Mountain View, Turpin, GNG are good for what they can stock, and Sportsman's resources are sorely lacking. I'm glad Cabelas is here, but will still everything I can to support the smaller businesses.

Can't remember the last time I didn't feel extremely lucky (or disappointed) in finding (or not) reloading supplies and good quality gear that actually fit (that wasn't designed in 64 XXXL). If Cabelas can deliver, good for them. Would be nice to shoot my .22lr again...

I didn't want to be the first one to say it.

Did a walk through this morning early. Not to crowded, staff was pleasant. They had ammo, but not the coat I was looking for.

The pint-sized "Brown Bear" chasing the two Sitka blacktails was about as special as I have seen in some time...

Some of the sheep looked like broomd loaned his to them...

I hope the Cabelas "outfitters" at least know the difference between a cartridge and caliber.....

Had one moron at the Wasilla Sportsmans Warehouse insist then argue that the .300 Win Mag was ( as he put it) "a more powerful caliber" than the .30-'06

even the goons at Great Northern Guns don't know half their shyte, had the big guy argue with me last year that there was no such thing as a 300 Norma Mag and 338 Norma Mag until I pulled a sample pc of brass of each out of my pocket....

how do these guys get these jobs ?
just imagine a Gynecologist that doesn't know the difference between a vagina and anus !

My experience has been about the same as woods_walkers. I guess I've been in at least a 1/2 dozen different Cabela's stores over the years, maybe more, we usually try to hit a new/different one everytime we head west to hunt. If you shop the catalog much, it's a great way to try on hunting gear and look things over that you are interested in, saves ordering and having to send something back. Compared to a lot of stores, their salespeople seem to be a lot friendlier, and for the most part, if I've asked one a question they don't know the answer to, they've told me they don't know, but will go get someone for me that does, I can appreciate that kind of honesty. No store or buisness is perfect, but I've usually had good luck with them, and they are excellent at taking something back that you aren't happy with.

I continue to be more disappointed in the local cabelas, less and less quality products and more and more cabelas labels on most items. I do not want a cabelas labeled anything. Made in china. For a price point. Many of us here think is is becoming more like walmart all the time. Very few salestaff, most are busy stocking shelves. Stand in line forever at the two of ten cash registers that are open. Also the slowest cash register software of anyone. Give me a scheels anyday with qualtiy name brand,plenty of sales staff and a quick checkout.

I've never been to one before, but gonna wait until the crowds die down before I head to Los Anchorage to take a gander. Always wanted to check out a Cabelas. Maybe this winter.

Gander mountain will do it as well. The Bass pro in Denver is pretty impressive as well.

Sat in a "tent" in front of Cabela's tying flies for much of the day and it was a bit nippy! The wind picked up and made the tying impossible... The crowds looked very manageable and the parking was bad, not horrible. I think the bloom is going to leave the rose a bit earlier than folks think and it will be no big deal to get in and out.

Been looking forward to it, but I don't anticipate being able to make it there before fall.

I've burned through all my training trips and unless I get a prisoner transport I have to stay put.

I think I will run by to check out Cabelas on the day Bass Pro opens.

IF bass pro ever opens.

So who went to the grand opening? A friend of mine showed me a pic of the "line" (more like a mob) in front of the store and it was a huge crowd.

Hopefully it's died down some as I plan on visting the store on Friday.

I will vouch for what AkMtnHntr is talking about. The day they opened up the Denver store north of town we, my cross country team and I, were homebound from a meet and passed right by the Cabela's store. The line to get in was no less than a 1/4 mile long. A student of mine has a father who works there. He said it was madness for the entire day. They only let so many people in and then you had to wait till someone left before they would let another person in. I didn't go for over a month after the store opened and it was still full. I have passed by many times and the parking lot is always full with cars.

The main N-S street to the West of Cabela's is a divided four-lane road ("C" St) and runs at least several hundred yards from the store front. On opening day the parking lot was full to overflowing as was Target's next door and all the roads around including "C" which had cars parked on both sides of the divided road in both directions for at least a half-mile.

When I drove by just before noon today there was lots of room in the parking lot...

When I did a little comparison shopping last week I found everything to be .50 to $1.00 more than Sporties prices. I just was looking at fishing items, but each time was a completely like item, same brand, same SKU#.

You think Sporties ain't runnin' scartttt?

no, why would they? It's been shown time and again in many markets that the two stores can co-exist. Just like when Sporties came to town and everybody said that they would close down Mt View and B&J's and the other Mom and Pops. Didnt happen then, and it wont now.

Agree completely, I think Sportsmans will do just fine and believe the competition is good for all involved. Just because we have a Cabelas now doesn't mean I will stop going to Sportsmans.

Not sure how Bass Pro will do but the one I visited near Gillette Stadium was the biggest outdoor store i've ever been in and was quite impressive.

Sportsmans Warehouse vanished from the State of Texas. Not sure why but I kind of liked the place. Cabelas is my first stop though.

I think Cabela's will capture a larger part of the tourist traffic and will do a better job of keeping the right things in stock.

The bigger problem for all of the stores is finding quality help from a pool which is already mighty small. Cabela's is stocking a bunch of two-hand rods but no one in the store has a clue how to use them or how to line them...

I suspect they will get past that and hire some good folks and learn, but they did their homework in bringing in the two-handers as they will sell.

The big deal for Cabela's is going to be the stuff with their brand on it and no one will be able to compete with like products. They were very upfront about the fact they want to downsell folks into Cabela's brand gear where their margins are highest.

Sporties is going to have trouble because they have minimal stock and maximum space. Their average clerk is "special" and you have to look hard to find a decent one.

Mtn View is doing all sorts of things and I suspect they will lose their main store. They are opening a store in Seward, Soldotna, and changing the store in the Captain Cook into a specialty fly shop. They are also opening a store in California...

all we are getting is > bunny hugger surplus ....err.. I mean ...REI

went to Cabelas, didn't buy much, PFD and a toothbrush holder, some stocking stuffers for Xmas

easy parking around noon hour.


REI sure picked a strange location for their FBKS store, be interesting to see how Beaver Sports weathers their presence.

but I think BS has a pretty loyal client base, we'll see

my days of buying a bunch of chit are behind me, have too much stuff now!

I'm with you Randy.....been getting rid of stuff.

Beaver and REI have matching inventory.....should be interesting.

I try to use Frontier when I do need something.

agreed on Frontier Vern



Sentry hardware saved me from having to buy a new kitchen faucet

needed a retaining clip, no luck at Ferguson or Home Depot

danged ole Sentry to the rescue

same goes for the "sports show" this week end ....if I want a sports show ....I'll open my garage!

I don't understand that model. Either I have a very different opinion of Cabelas than everyone else, or people just aren't paying attention.

Cabelas branded junk tends to be just that. They certainly have slapped their logo on some quality items (meindl boots come to mind), but every time they put a Cabela's logo on a piece of gear its value drops by 15%. I'd happily pay more for the same item without a retailer's logo stamped on it.

I'm glad they are here. It will be interesting to see how they do. I'm hopeful that they will push sportsman's into actually trying to run a store, which would be nice. Hint to SW: If you don't have anything to sell, it will be tough to make any money.

Currently in Los Anchorage on biz. Plan to check out Cabela's tomorrow - if only for the taxidermy. Scored some .264 130 gr NABs at Sportsmans Whorehouse in Squarebanks. I'd looking for those on-line for a while.

You will probably like some of the taxidermy... but check out the enraged rat chasing the Sitka blacktail bucks... A large portion of the mounts are aided greatly by their distance from the eye of the viewer...

wife took the kids to the opener, sent me some funny pics of the taxidermy work....

Uhhhh... funny pics of taxidermy? or pics of funny taxidermy?

yep

Didja get a pic of the brown bear greyhound chasing the deer? That one is painful to look at...

That must be your fave!

There are too many, too special, to pick favs I am afraid...

I'm headed there today, I'll take some pics of that blacktail eating rat bear.

Well, I went to Cabelas on Friday and it's a pretty nice store but definitley not as big as I thought it might be. Bought some ratcht straps and a pair of LaCrosse Alpha Burly Pro 800gr boots. I hope they do something about their ammo stock, it was pitiful.

And about that brown bear, it was so bad I just couldn't take a pic of it. There was a mtn lion in there that I should have taken a picture of, was one of the weirdest looking cats i've ever seen.

A few of my "impressions" on the store -

The two flying white dirigibles: man, the underside of a beluga leaves something to be desired.

Saltwater fish of PWS - liked! esp. the rockfish.

Funny mounts - guess I missed the rat on deer one. At ground level, there were a couple of funny ones next to the two mule deer - a fox and a brown bear. Faces were all fupped duck.

Almost bought a bino harness for my Leicas, but held off. They had some .264 130 NABs in stock, but I scored 100 at the Whorehouse in Bearflanks - $2 cheaper a Cabela's.

Checked out the Bargain Cave - yawn. I'm sure it has it's days.

Got to fondle quite a few rifles. Found out the Wby Mk 5 stock, as fugly as it is, fits me like no other. The Sako wasn't too bad either. I can use much of a straight comb or anything where the butt isn't well below the axis of the bore. MR style stocks just suck for me. Sure hope my Micky New Hunter pattern is like the Sako (which is supposedly what it was patterned after).