Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Cabelas?

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...