Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cabela's and Bass Pro are about worthless right now

From what I could find for free, they had a huge year in 2017, and have been going downhill since. Last fall, their credit outlook was downgraded by Moody's (that was before Covid) and they have been in the schitter this year for sales, having to "temporarily" close stores and cut pay for management with pay freezes for the rest.

Like I said, I give them 18 months. Most businesses like this are going down in the economic aftermath of coronafarce.

Cabela's and BPS sent out a sales flyer last week advertising a sale that is starting this week. I popped over to the nearby Cabela's to look at a Franchi Momentum rifle that is listed as being $100 off the regular price, but they didn't have the rifles and didn't know what the regular price is. I understand "just in time" inventory management, but this seems to be "just incompetent" inventory management. Pretty hard to sell stuff that you don't have. I also noticed that the LaVista, NE, Cabela's has almost no used firearms in either the floor racks and the Gun Library.

I understand that the Cabela's family made out very well, financially, in regards to the sale of their business to BPS, but most of the people who worked for Cabela's headquarters operation in Sidney, NE, were badly hurt, as most of those jobs went to BPS' HQ operations in Springfield, MO. Sidney was pretty much a company town and when the company was sold, real estate prices for existing homes dropped like a rock. The last couple of times that I stopped at the Cabela's flagship store in Sidney the used firearms selection was small and mostly, as is usually the case with Cabela's, over-priced. I used to like to stay in Sidney 'cause Dude's Steakhouse in downtown Sidney has the best mountain oysters that I've ever eaten in a restaurant.

I used to think Cabela's guns were way over-priced... figure out their system and it is amazing how cheap they are.

I don’t buy anything from them!

If I ever get to use up my Cabela's bucks, I'm cancelling my card and going with one from Sportsman's warehouse depending on what they offer.

If I ever get to use up my Cabela's bucks, I'm cancelling my card and going with one from Sportsman's warehouse depending on what they offer.

You can say that again.....

Called up to a Cabela's in Arizona several weeks ago and agreed to pay $25 shipping on a gun I hadn't seen to my local Cabela's so I could see it and buy it from them if it was good.

Next thing I know they've charged my credit card for the gun that I hadn't seen.

They never called me before changing the charge from $25 to the gun price (they had my cell). Never sent me a receipt. Local Cabela's didn't know I'd been charged. If I hadn't looked at my credit card activity online before I went in, I'd have paid for the gun twice.

I informed the store manager in Glendale in very unhappy terms about how I don't appreciate doing business with companies that commit credit card fraud. Never heard back from him either.

They are an absolute last resort for me to buy anything from either of them. In order to put even more distance between us I paid off and canceled my Cabelas card,BPS is soon to follow.

I've noticed people having trouble with Midway USA as well. They're not far from me. I buy almost all of my reloading stuff at Grafs.com It's family owned and small town service.

Buy at 50% value and list at 150% value?

I have occasionally found some good deals in the gun library, but they have always been on things that were unrecognized by Cabela’s - micky stocks, etc. And then the pain of actually trying to procure them has eliminated any sense of a good deal. The last time I was in, it took over two hours to simply check out. Left hand didn’t know what the right was doing; the right hand didn’t know what the left was doing; and no one, including the “manager”, gave two [bleep]. Beyond frustrating.

That's crazy that you can actually see 'em. All I could see was empty shelves.

Isn't there a quote "I see dead products"?

I think it's from a movie called "The 9th Sense"....maybe it's "The Chapter 9 Cents".....

I bought my first reloading equipment (around 1973) and several rifles in the original Cabelas store in downtown Sidney, NE . They were housed in a 3 level store. One floor below street level was a very well equipped gun shop. The street level floor and the second level floor housed their business offices and their mail order business. This was years before the first flag ship store was built on the east side of Sidney along I-80.

Cabelas gong to the big store approach was the beginning of the corporate failure snowball that gained size while steadily rolling down hill for quite a few years. The bulky snowball totally melted down when Bass Pro took over.

Many of you all’s complaints are the same complaints of 10,15 years ago.


As long you only go there with the expectation of buying some golf shorts, some peanut oil and some chocolate covered doodles, you’ll never be disappointed.

As for being on hold for 20 minutes.....doing something else while the on-hold music/message plays. You dont have tobe glued to a hand piece. Sharpen a knife, flash to the campfire on your smartphone, or even talk to your loved ones about human papilloma virus.

Bass Pro should have let Cabelas die on the vine and just kept doing what they were dong. It sure didn't help them.

I ordered from Midway a few months ago because I saw what was coming and wanted to get ahead of the rush. They had one bullet , which is hard to find, listed as "in Stock" and I went through the process of checkout and everything and it said that item was out of stock after I'd gone through all the crap. They did get me the other items just fine, but now I don't know whether to trust their website availability, because they kept listing that same bullet as "in stock".

Cancelled my Cabelas card a few weeks ago. I told them I found a card with better rewards, which is true. Switched to the Chase Freedom card. Only 1.5% back on everything, but a $200 bonus after 3 months for signing up.
Cabelas has integrated their customer service and website into bAsshole shops in the last month or so. Their website sucks, and the customer service is non-existant. In the good old days, you could call the customer service, and if it was a brand they carried, but an item they didn't stock, they could get it for you. Now, I wouldn't even waste my breath.

I did place an order to use up my Cabelas bucks. They do have good prices on powder. Placed the order, got free shipping and no hazmat on a store pickup. Went to the store, did a curbside pickup and never went in. They paid shipping and hazmat for one $25 bottle of powder. It was still in the shipping box when they brought it out to me. Surprised they didn't at least combine it with a store restock order.

I despise the current Cabelas and BP as much as anyone, BUT you guys bytchin about the shelves being empty make me laugh! You know the average casual gun owner/outdoor person isnt as "in the know" as many of us on here regarding where to purchase their guns, ammo, gear, etc. They need guns, ammo or other outdoor gear, Cabelas, BP, Dicks etc is where they think to go look first. With the current run on guns/ammo, gear etc, how is anyone surprised that major stores like these are picked clean??

Both are dead to me.