Latest visit to Cabela's.

[kmw1954]

I have a brother that lives only 20min. away from the Cabela's store and he enjoys going there. So knowing that he was going to be coming to our house for Thanksgiving dinner he call and asked if there was anything I wanted from there. 1st thing I told him was to ask if they were ever going to stock primers again because they have been O/S since March. Then I told him actually there was as I had been looking at them on the website. 3 items, Lee Breech Lock Bushings, Lee Lock Ring Eliminator bushings and a Hornady Bullet Feed Die.

So yesterday he calls me from the store and tell me he can't find any of these item and that he had asked 4 different sales people for help. One showed him a Hornady LNL AP press and the other 3 had no clue what he was talking about. He left empty handed and disgusted. When He arrived back home he called me again asking to explain what I wanted as he would go online and order it. So of course I told him don't do that I can order them myself as I already have them saved. But I sent him pictures of all of them.

Next I get another phone call from him as he went back to Cabela's and took the printed pages for the items I sent from Midway USA. Magically they were now able to find all the items other than they were O/S on the regular bushings. And still haven't found out about primers.

BTW I love my brother!

 

[paulsj]

There is grest capitalist quote "you get what you pay for." It aslo holds true for personnel at a place of business.

 

[Steve S.]

The down side of an economic labor shortage is lack of quality; believing that human behavior is a “constant” is not only naive, it is nothing less than lying to yourself about what your eyes and ears are telling you. Too many see a world of human virtues that simply does not exist. However, I always like to roam Cabelas and look at the “stuff”.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

For the most part I find Cabelas workers can differentiate firearms from say......... a rock, or a shoe.

Everything reloading related, you're on your own and will get better deals online anyway.

 

[wickedwrx]

My local Cabelas recently reduced the size of the shooting accesory department by at least half. The isles are only wide enough for one person now. On top of that they don’t have anything reloading related in stock anymore except for Powder that no one uses. I’m not sure if it is due to the Bass Pro merger or what but I have been pretty disappointed my last 2 trips.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I’m not sure if it is due to the Bass Pro merger

I think it's contributing as I've seen similar things at the nearest Cabelas to me. I used to be able to grab powder off the shelf, and now they are all locked away so the only way to know if they have it in stock is to ask. 100 packs of primers are out, but bricks are all behind the counter. Equipment seems to be well stocked of particular brands. Bullet and brass sales seem nonexistent now. They won't let you dry fire pistols anymore either because someone killed themselves at the gun counter a few months back. So they all have trigger locks now and they aren't allowed to take them off. I won't buy a gun from behind glass without trying the trigger, so I guess my LGS is going to sell me more guns from now on. As it should be anyway.

All in all, Cabela's has gone down hill for awhile, but this merger seems to be enhancing the negatives quite a lot.

 

[JONWILL]

FYI. Browning has a $100 rebate on their handguns
Cabelas/ Bass Pro is promoting it. If the gun you want is on back order don’t get it
They don’t tell you but the rebate must be submitted by 12/10 to be valid
I doubt Cabelas or Bass Pro will tell you that

 

[kmw1954]

Everything reloading related, you're on your own and will get better deals online anyway.

Actually that's not true. I compared the cost of these 3 items to the cost at Midway USA, Titan Reloading, Midsouth Shooters, Graf's, Walmart and Amazon. When all was added up and the cost of shipping or sales tax was figured in they all came to within a couple dollars of each other with the cheapest place being ebay but then the items were all coming from different sellers.

Lastly I have the items, or most of them, in hand right now and do not have to wait on delivery until next week. I can get started today.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Actually that's not true. I compared the cost of these 3 items to the cost at Midway USA, Titan Reloading, Midsouth Shooters, Graf's, Walmart and Amazon. When all was added up and the cost of shipping or sales tax was figured in they all came to within a couple dollars of each other with the cheapest place being ebay but then the items were all coming from different sellers.

Lastly I have the items, or most of them, in hand right now and do not have to wait on delivery until next week. I can get started today.

Hey that's great!

 

[kmw1954]

The Brand has still taken a downward plunge, I agree.

 

[giggitygiggity]

Ever since Bass Pro bought out Cabela’s, they’ve gone down. They used to do a flat 5% off for military online and in store. Now, it is only in store and there are lots of exclusions. Cabela’s also did 10% off online and in store for veterans on Veterans’ Day, but that stopped. Cabela’s used to have steals when they had sales (especially on optics at the end of the year)... now they’re mostly average deals. Cabela’s stores are just Bass Pro with a different name. Bass Pro knows that there are few other retailers who had a nearly one-stop shop for outdoors items besides Cabela’s. Now that they own Cabela’s, they know they don’t have to work as hard since their largest competitor works for them. Therefore, sales are less frequent and less substantial.

 

[TomJ]

I have customers by the one in Illinois, and in the past would make it a point to stop there when in the area. It's disappointing to see the changes since they were bought out. Reloading supplies are minimal, and based on the ads I've received in the mail recently their focus appears to be on selling clothes. There a good LGS not too far away, and I stop there and skip Cabelas completely.

 

[Hillbillyz]

I was in the store in question a few weeks back and saw they had Reloader 15 in stock. Excitedly took a can to the check out only to find it was priced at $43.99 for one pound. I can almost buy a pound online pay shipping and hazmat and beat that price.

 

[FROGO207]

The hand writing on the wall tells me that soon they will be competing with and stocking the same items as the local Dicks Sporting Goods store. I have not set foot in either one for a number of years due to the cost of items and lack of stock that I was interested in. Just sayin....

 

[Sniper66]

Almost everything I can buy at Cabela's/BP, i can find for less elsewhere. I'm talking guns, ammo, decoys, reloading equipment and components, blinds, brass, etc. etc. That wasn't always true, but it is these days. When I go there now, the staff outnumber customers 2-3 to one. sad to go there.

 

[kcofohio]

I was in the store in question a few weeks back and saw they had Reloader 15 in stock. Excitedly took a can to the check out only to find it was priced at $43.99 for one pound. I can almost buy a pound online pay shipping and hazmat and beat that price.

Yep, sure sounds like Bass Pro pricing.

 

[ATLDave]

I don't know if Cabela's has suffered from their acquisition by BPS, but their customers sure have.

 

[somethingbenign]

The personnel at my Cabela's are actually really helpful and knowledgeable in the firearms and reloading sections. Sadly their prices are out of touch. I'm lucky enough to have a Scheels 5 minutes away from the Cabela's and saved close to 60% on reloading components for the drive. I do like Cabela's used racks for guns and browse often but have never found one that was at a price I thought was worth it.

 

[ATLDave]

Cabela's has never been a primary supply for me of gun stuff... I generally use the more specialized retailers (in person or on line) for buying most of my reloading gear or other shooting equipment. But I liked them as a good general outdoor store. I liked a lot of their house-brand clothing as knockaround/weekend wear. All that stuff is worse since BPS bought them.

 

[Bandit67]

I guess we are spoiled here in southern MI. The Cabelas in Dundee is still pretty awesome as far as Hunting, Shooting, Archery, Ammo, and Reloading. Although they were out of primers for a few months they were fully stocked when I went last week. They had all sizes of Winchester, CCI , Federal, and Remington. The powder shelves were also well stocked. The reloading section is excellent overall with RCBS, Hornady, Lee, Lyman, Frankford Arsenal equipment and a huge selection of bullets, dies, brass and a dedicated shotshell section. Also a small section of casting equipment. I do agree that the employees aren't knowledgeable (I expect that) but the prices are really not that bad. I regularly buy Berrys and Xtreme bullets for a competitive price and I even find something in the Bargain Cave now and then.

 

[Axis II]

I visited Cabelas last night to look at a several items I intended to buy elsewhere for waaay less! Upon entering the store I was greeted with credit card papers which pisses me off to no end so that's one reason I stay away. I wanted to look at some cold weather camo and everything I had looked at last year was definitely a different material this year. I found it odd right at the BP takeover all the camo was removed in the whole store and only recently replaced last month and we are now in month 3 of Ohio's hunting seasons. I went over to the bino counter and the gentlemen was very helpful and knew his stuff. It came time to walk out with an item they agreed to price match and I was asked about the credit card. I now reply I have the card and its great even though I don't. The man replied "great! Thank you very much, we appreciate that and that's pretty much the only think keeping us in a job". I have no clue what that meant other than several years ago I was told by an employee Cabelas finances their own credit card. Ammo is very high compared to other places, guns are very high even with the black Friday sales and I don't think I've ever seen so much novelty crap in my life!!! I swear 60% of the store is now hoodies, t shirts, hats and gift crap! 10yrs ago if you said Cabelas to me I thought taxidermy mountain, camo, guns and bows. Archery used to have a ton of Bear bows and various crossbows and now its all redhead crap! Archery tech said they made him take them all down and put in the back room.

P.S. I purchased a Savage Mark II FV today on sale for $150. Cabelas sale price is $199. About 3 local shops had the Mark II in all variations for $150 this week so cabelas having more $ and pull could sell them at that price but they must want to be greedy. I drove 40min to purchase one for $150.

 

[cheygriz]

I started shopping at Cabela's in their original store in downtown Sydney NE more than 40 years ago. An old red brick building in the middle of a little bitty town. But with wonderful prices.

Then they built that huge store on interstate 80, and their prices went through the roof on everything. I can buy cheaper from the local "Mom & Pop" scalper.

 

[JONWILL]

Ours must have learned a lesson on pricing. For a short bit they had Winchester Small Pistol Primers for $50/1000. They dropped them to $34 which is still on the higher end but better

The Gun Cave is the only place I go to look at guns anymore. Depends on who does the pricing you can get some really good deals. Most are insane though

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

From the looks and sound of things I suggest that they change the slogan to, "The world's FORMER outfitter"...

 

[DavidABQ]

We now have a Cabelas in town. A new one that has been open about a year now. I almost always drive by it to shop at the Sportmans Warehouse.