Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Scheel's Sports

I started shopping at Scheels when it was a hardware store with a great sporting goods department. Most of my early gun purchases where made there, then i moved away from the area they service. Much better than Cabelas.

I think that they are a little light on selection of guns (the "here's what we have" instead of "what do you want" syndrome. Prices are high. Still a good store. As mentioned above, they carry a lot of non-shooting/hunting things; which I don't see as a bad thing. I get a lot of Christmas/Birthday presents for the grandsons there.

The Fargo Scheels is quite impressive.

I probably buy 2 or 3 used firearms from the Scheel's in Omaha annually. I run through Scheel's every couple of weeks to look at the used rifles. There are occasional deals in both new and used firearms, but once a price is set I don't recall ever seeing a used firearm discounted, no matter how long the items has been in the rack. The retail prices for new firearms seems to be between 15% and 20% above small dealer wholesale. Scheel's prices for used firearms is typically lower than at Cabela's., but they seem to be priced inconsistently, some being higher than you'd expect and some being lower without any obvious logic.

I think that Cabela's has gone to hell since being bought by BPS. The quality of items has dropped off and that's saying something about stuff that is mostly made in China, customer service in the store is almost invisible, and maybe worse, when you find a clerk they just don't seem to know anything and they don't seem to care. I tried to buy a pair of split-ring pliers at the local Cabel's today and although they might have had them in stock, the person who tried to help me didn't know what split-ring pliers were used for and seem relieved when I told him that if he couldn't find them, I'd order a set on line.

Scheel's built what was then their flagship store in Salt Lake City (It might still be.) Huge store - large enough to have a walk-through aquarium and a full-size indoor Ferris wheel.

It's about a 75-mile drive for me, and I'd have to go past two Sportsman's Warehouses and a Cabela's to get there. Too far to pick up a few fishing lures. But when I'm nearby, I usually go in, and if I go in, I come out with a cart full of stuff. They even have a better than decent cafeteria.

The best thing about Scheels is their price match policy. They will match ANY advertised price as long as the item is in stock.

I love taking the Cabela's flier into Scheels when they have the blowout sales. Got a set of Vortex binos for a song and they didn't even blink at the price!

Elk Country

I love Scheels.

Bought at different Scheels over the years. Seems like their prices seem to be a bit higher than Cabela's, but they might be improving on that. Bought a few used guns from a few different stores, but their used gun racks are always much smaller than a typical Cabela's store. Last time I sold a gun to them, they gave one amount in store credit if you were trading it in, or a lower amount if you wanted cash (15% less I think). Cabela's just gives cash, no playing with "store credit gets you more".

I have gotten discounts on used guns before at Scheels quite a few times, but last time I asked if they could drop the price (a couple years ago) I was told they don't do that and they've never done that and I'm a liar if I say they ever did. Okay then...

And last I knew they charge about $50 for a FFL transfer, and the seller/shipper must be an FFL (because it's illegal for a non-FFL to ship a rifle according to them).

In short.. if they have something I want I'll buy it. Lot of reloading equpment over the years, lures, etc. But at the stores locally I expect about as much customer service or knowledge out of the employees as I do at the average Walmart.

They are not in the class of Cabela's or BPS. About on a par with Gander Mountain. Sportsman's wouldn't be as good as Scheels, nor would Academy. All have their place. No Sportsman's or Ganders around here anymore.

They cover a lot of ball-and-biking sports also but have a much higher-end line of clothes than the Redhead stuff of BPS now. Lots of fishing, camping gear, bow hunting, and guns though seem to limit those to certain lines; and that’s very true for their optics also. But some nice “high end” guns too.

All-in-all, very good quality stuff if priced somewhat higher in some dept’s. At least in Sioux Falls, SD you cannot browse very long before someone is there to help you.

A far, far cry from the “Cabelas-BPS” I was in a couple of weeks ago, in that there is a much wider variety and clothes from hunting to casual to sports in good name-brand stuff in Scheels.

The one in SF, SD has a Ferris wheel for the kids and some shooting gallery-type games also. It’s expanded four times in about forty years which is pretty significant.

Forgot.. I do have to give Scheels credit on stocking a variety of new firearms. I think their selection is larger than the local Cabela's. They also have a gunsmithing service - it's remote and involves shipping both ways, but they do have it.

Each store has a general run of products, however, each store is also individually managed in-house so they're not dependent upon some centralized ordering system to bring in products that are specialized to a certain area of the country. Local decisions/inventory for local activities, in that way, each store can be very different. For instance, the store in Sioux Falls, SD carries lots of stuff for upland bird hunting that you won't find in Grand Forks, ND. Grand Forks carries a bunch of specialized catfish gear, Bismarck ND store doesn't. Etc, Etc, ETc.

I worked in a Scheels store during college (20yrs ago). I loved working for them, they do a whole bunch of things the right way. They spend a LOT of $$ sending employees to multiple product and customer service training sessions/yr.

Pricing will be in-line w/local competitors. Used gun pricing follows the Blue Book of Gun Values fairly closely most of the time, say +/- 10% on average for run-of-the-mill stuff that people hunt/shoot regularly. Collectable stuff will vary more both up and down from the Blue Book based upon condition. Like any store, there will be hidden gems and stuff that makes you shake your head. Sometimes they don't know or realize what they've got and other times, they pay too much for something that wasn't worth it, but, those are outliers. Day in and day out pricing will be fair for the most part.

Billings has the same setup.

There are quite a few cities in the upper mid-west that used to have both Scheels and Gander. The Scheels stores are still there, Gander is not. Same thing could be said for the majority of the cities in which Sportsman's Warehouse tried to come in and compete.

What do you mean by that?

+1 on the price match.
Got a great deal on an ice drill when they matched an advertised on-line price in Billings MT.

Never heard of Scheels... are they just up north?

Plano TX would be the closest store to you. They started out over 100yrs ago in ND/MN and have steadily worked their way out from there. MT, WI, IA, KS, CO, UT, and TX.

Mostly upper Midwest. Illinois/Wisconsin to the east, Utah to the west, only one store south of northern Missouri. One store in Nevada.

Randy, YUP....furthest south I've ever seen one was in Reno...

we had em in MN and out in the Dakotas...

I never thought they were anything special....I'd say you're not missing much..

kinda like a glorified Dick's Sporting Goods.