Cabelas RIP

[JakeLand]

Brick and mortar so sportsman warehouse for me

[PolarBear]

It's probably been over a year since I've been in Cabela's and they are only 20 minutes away.  I buy all my stuff online at various places or at Sunbirds in Yelm or Chehalis.  I remember being able to order custom built fishing rods through the Cabela's catalog 38 or so years ago.  I still have a couple.  That was back when they were great.

[Skyvalhunter]

Then what happened?

[mtnwkr]

They've gone the way of REI. They went from selling outdoor gear to selling the outdoor lifestyle for the city folk who want to claim they are "outdoorsy".

[Russ McDonald]

I guess kniw ine gets it.  Cabelas is owned by Bass Pro.  Cabelas does what Bass Pro tells them.  As simple as that.  I shop around Cabelas has a good price on a Anderson Arms stripped lower and I have gift cards.  I shop mostly Sportco or Sportmans. 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[stlusn30-06]

Cabelas died sometime in the early 00s. I remember when I was a kid getting a Cabelas catalog was like Christmas come early. Filled with lots of decent gear. As soon as it became the Walmart/Home Depot/Best Buy for outdoors men it was over. All the sudden every person driving a truck north and south of King county rocked a mossy oak Cabelas hoodie, and they sold what mostly was a bunch of imported crap. I'd much rather order quality gear online from smaller retail operations like Schnee's out of Bozeman, or even better, shop local.

[Angry Perch]

They've gone the way of REI. They went from selling outdoor gear to selling the outdoor lifestyle for the city folk who want to claim they are "outdoorsy".

There are certainly a lot of folks that walk around town rocking their $500 Arcteryx jackets, but REI sells a lot of high quality gear to some serious outdoors folk.

[lokidog]

I got a new landing net for $16.50 out the door, $10 coupon, some Cabelas $$ on my card, but yeah, not what it used to be. I used to stop by just to peruse the Bargain Cave, that won't happen anymore.... I just wish Sportco or Sportsmans would have a store on the north end of the crap hole called King County......

[pianoman9701]

Cabelas died sometime in the early 00s. I remember when I was a kid getting a Cabelas catalog was like Christmas come early. Filled with lots of decent gear. As soon as it became the Walmart/Home Depot/Best Buy for outdoors men it was over. All the sudden every person driving a truck north and south of King county rocked a mossy oak Cabelas hoodie, and they sold what mostly was a bunch of imported crap. I'd much rather order quality gear online from smaller retail operations like Schnee's out of Bozeman, or even better, shop local.

I bought everything from Cabelas in the 90s. Good quality, durable clothing, waders, etc. I agree that they started slipping after the turn of the century. They're not competitive and a lot of the stuff they sell under their own label now is junk.

[goldenhtr]

I got a new landing net for $16.50 out the door, $10 coupon, some Cabelas $$ on my card, but yeah, not what it used to be. I used to stop by just to peruse the Bargain Cave, that won't happen anymore.... I just wish Sportco or Sportsmans would have a store on the north end of the crap hole called King County......

There's a Sportsmans on Everett Mall Way.

[stlusn30-06]

They've gone the way of REI. They went from selling outdoor gear to selling the outdoor lifestyle for the city folk who want to claim they are "outdoorsy".

There are certainly a lot of folks that walk around town rocking their $500 Arcteryx jackets, but REI sells a lot of high quality gear to some serious outdoors folk.

I'd take it one step further and say that the current Cabelas sells the outdoor lifestyle to the "country" folk who want to claim they are "outdoorsy".

[Stein]

As a business, it may make more sense to focus on higher margin house brand stuff like clothes and glamping gear than stuff that guys like us are looking for.  There are way more urban dudes than hunting dudes.

I would expect they phase out even more hunting/shooting stuff and expand the bass fishing section and clothing.  I would be surprised if they keep any local stuff like clamming/shrimping/crabbing and go with more of a standardized selection decided far away from the store.

I know several people that left after the acquisition and a few that stayed and aren't very happy with the way things are going on the HR front.  I know their return policy is now fairly hostile, I wouldn't buy anything unless I was sure I wanted it and it would last.