Bass Pro and Cabela's combine

Looks to me like the market for big-box outdoor destination stores is saturated now. There are at least 4 Cabela's, 2 BPs with a new one planned, at least 3 Gander Mountains, beaucoup Dicks/Field And Stream - all within a 2-hr. drive max. of me. And not a dime's worth of difference between them. I'll stop at one if already in the area, but my shooting tastes have generally gone in a different direction; I do like to check out the Cabela'gun rooms, and sometimes they'll get reloading components first, maybe because of their size.
I look for some of these mega-stores to close and combine eventually. Stockholders just got a $16/share bonus, and the CEOs probably a few million more a year, so the "important" people have been served; the rest will just pay higher prices and suffer poorer service.
 
It sucks, cabelas is better. They have better ammo selection, and when there is a good sale with free shipping it can be some really good prices. I like a lot of the cabelas branded clothing but do not like any redhead stuff. Wish they had sportsmens warehouse around here.
 
I remember when Sportsmans Warehouse first opened. The very first one. Just a little hole in the wall with cardboard boxes of stuff piled up to the ceiling and narrow little aisles between the piles of stacked boxes. But he had the stuff we wanted. Stuff that before he opened his store, we had no choice but to order through the mail (no internet yet, lol!), mostly from Cabelas. And if he didn't have what we wanted, he'd get it for us. Pretty quick. And at decent prices.

I still go into the big giant new Sportsmans Warehouse store once in awhile. But I get everything online these days. I wouldn't really notice it if they went teets to the sky tomorrow.

- DAA
 
In his statement to the employees, John Morris said that he is excited to bring the best of both worlds to all of the stores and the stores will maintain their names for the time being. But that Cabela's would now have the nicer boat/fishing section that Bass Pro has. On the flip side Bass Pro would have a better hunting section, more along the lines of Cabela's. Obviously, it is all for the shareholder dollar. But with only a Cabela's within 3 hours of my house I'm hoping to see a little bit of the "Bass Pro" there as I do like a lot of their products.
 
I don't like the bass pro stores too much camo clothes. but then again cabelas thinks they need $400 for a decent coat now days. as time goes I don't buy much from there anymore. I do buy consumable stuff though, fishing lines, flys, etc. but thats about it anymore. Sportsmans wharehouse has taken a different course building smaller stores in more areas. I find myself spending there more recently because the store is close by. they also seem more dialed in on the western hunter than cabelas does. although the return policy at sportsmans isn't that great so I buy accordingly. powder and bullets sure have gone up a ton in recent years.
 
I've made some recent Cabela's purchases, and like their customer service. Never dealt with BP much - dont care for them for some reason, but nothing specific...prices seemed high I guess. Cabela's ran some good sales now and then. I think we should all be lamenting that competition has just gone down, and we were too enamored with the goings on on this site to pay attention to what was going on with these companies, and not having bought stock last week when the buy was about to go down....16% in one day is pretty good money on your money these days.

Hope the Cabela's brand stays near what it is today.
 
I am a great admirer of Johnny Morris. The guy started out selling tackle in a room attached to his dad's liquor store and turned it into an empire. Was fortunate enough to visit Big Cedar Lodge (a Basspro property) near Branson, MO, and everything about the place is top notch. Big Cedar has an Indian artifact and cowboy memorabilia collection that probably rivals anything the Smithsonian has. The guy has vision and has put a heck of a lot of people to work.
 
I like the Cabelas brand hunting clothes. I usually wait until they hit a sale or the bargain cave, best deal I ever got was on some bibs and a jacket when they redisigned them just a tad for the next year. Got the set for less than $60.00 on the dry plus silent suede line. Bass Pro is okay and I've got a few red head brand things, mainly caps, a blaze over vest, and a fanny pack, but the Cabelas stuff is way better in my opinion. Hope this doesn't become a negative thing. When I did more fishing I did buy most of my fishing gear from Bass Pro.
 
i used to buy almost all my hunting and shooting stuff from cabelas. regular clothes, camo clothes, boots, some reloading stuff, a few scopes, etc...
i have a club card and when i was building spec houses i charged $40k or $50k per year, it meant a lot of free stuff. but over the years i have bought less and less from them and now struggle to find something i want from them. their boots i bought for years, but the quality went lower and lower over the years while the prices went up drastically. the discontinue good products and replace them with junk. their prices on reloading supplies are pretty bad unless on sale, same with most other stuff.
not 5 minutes ago i was looking for a knife to replace one that i lost. amazon for $32, cabelas for $70!
 
Here in St. Louis I have Bass Pro, Cabelas and a Gander Mountain all within 10 miles of the house, I seldom go into any of them, they are all over priced and the quality isn't there anymore. When I need components I go to Graf's. They could roll up and move this afternoon and I wouldn't loose any sleep over it. I can usually find what ever it is I need on Amazon.


Here Kitty Kitty
 
always been a Cabela's guy for hunting/shooting related items. browsing basspro online this morning and not liking what I'm seeing....
 
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