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New Cabelas

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
We made the trip down there yesterday, and I gotta tell ya, I was quite disappointed. I've been to the Cabelas in hamburg PA, Wheeling, Ann Arbor, St. louis, and Hudson Estates Illinois. This one in columbus is by far the smallest.

It's always bee fun to go to the store to see the statue in front. Every stores statue is unique to that store. Ours doesn't even have one. Once you get inside you are typically greeted by a huge vaulted ceiling with a mountain in the center of the store. As you work your way around the moutain it is divided into sections with different mounts from around the world. This store has a plain bar joist ceiling, no mountain and very few mounts. Going to the fishing section was always one of the favorites for the kids because of the huge floor to ceiling aquariums full of local game fish species. The aquarium in our, much anticipated, columbus store isn't much bigger than the one in my living room.

If it wasnt for the name cabelas on everything, I would have thought i was in any other box store like dicks, or Gander Mt.

When we visited the store in Illinois, we noticed that the entire second floor had been abandoned. You could climb the stairs and walk around the store, but the vast majority of the floor was blocked of with large screens. We asked one of the employees why, and were told that since the majority of sales were catalouge or online, It just didnt make sense to have a large sales floor and a large inventory of merchandise. i understand that, but for the average guy who cant afford the prices they ask, the only draw to the store itself is the experience of being there. That appears to be lost.

I made the trip down, saw the new store, but if i want to visit another cabelas I will make the drive to WV or MI.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Did you get a chance to look at the guns while you was there? Seen a couple on-line I wouldn't mind getting but with the shipping and new sales tax it would be cheaper for me to drive to the store and get it lol.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,738
274
North Carolina
Yeah I was wondering if their large stores with all the bling would start too fade out with all the new stores opening up.... Sorry you didn't have a good experience Dave....
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Did you get a chance to look at the guns while you was there? Seen a couple on-line I wouldn't mind getting but with the shipping and new sales tax it would be cheaper for me to drive to the store and get it lol.

Yeah I looked a little. tried to convince the missus to buy one for me but that didn't get very far.

Yeah I was wondering if their large stores with all the bling would start too fade out with all the new stores opening up.... Sorry you didn't have a good experience Dave....

Just seems to me that if you dont intend to do something right, then dont do it at all. If they dont want to hold the new stores to the same standards as the existing ones why bother. Just stick to online sales. The "bling" of the big stores is what sets places like cabelas and bass pro apart from the other retailers. Why would you want to cheap them up?
 

Ohiosam

*Supporting Member*
11,707
191
Mahoning Co.
The stores in places like Dundee and Wheeling are destination stores. They were put in relatively low population, undeveloped locations where Cabelas planned a major retail development attracting national franchise stores, restaurants, and motels. They draw people from a large area. These new stores are going in already developed areas with large populations. They are expecting local shoppers, not large numbers of people traveling distances.

Supposedly the Cbus store stocks over 80% of the products the big stores do.
 

beaston

Junior Member
I almost headed there yesterday and I too would have been disappointed. For me the one in Tridelphia is the same distance so that will still be my go to place.

That's to bad considering the hunting population locally..
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Personally I believe cabelas and bass pro at way overpriced both in store and online. The reason I have tolerated it is because I know they have huge stores with lots of cool stuff and I understand that costs money. To me it was worth paying the extra money because I knew there was a reason for it.

What I see them doing is this. They're losing their ass to other online retailers that sell the same product at a cheaper price, they can do this because of the lack of overhead. Cabelas opened a crap store in an attempt to cash in on a virgin market without the overhead, yet they charge the same outrageous prices. Virgin market, low overhead store, equals more profit. To me that philosophy isn't worth spending my money at. Additionally I now have to pay 7% more in sales tax online because they opened a store in Ohio. Combine that with the lack of the cabelas experience and I have no reason to shop at cabelas online or in person. They opened a McDonald's with Resturant style prices. The only reason i bought from them online was to avoid sales tax. Cant do that anymore. As for shopping at cabelas anymore. No thanks. The only reason I can see shopping there will be if they have a product cheaper than someone else and I do ship to store. But let's face it. Cabelas having something cheaper than someone else online or local is rare.
 
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hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
I won't be making any special trips there. I generally go to their bargain cave online unless I absolutely need something.
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
The ship to store and sales are what I like. Plus, they have items actually in stock...

Yup.

It's a ship-to-store location and not a destination vacation. It's a point to cash out Cabela's points from their Visa's, and I think that's one of the better reward cards out there if you like to hunt/fish/shoot. I think they will sell a TON of giftcards though.

My hope, hope, is that with the expanded Gander, Vance's/Buckeye Outdoors, and the new Cabela's is that they actually get competitive with each other.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
Personally I believe cabelas and bass pro at way overpriced both in store and online. The reason I have tolerated it is because I know they have huge stores with lots of cool stuff and I understand that costs money. To me it was worth paying the extra money because I knew there was a reason for it.

What I see them doing is this. They're losing their ass to other online retailers that sell the same product at a cheaper price, they can do this because of the lack of overhead. Cabelas opened a crap store in an attempt to cash in on a virgin market without the overhead, yet they charge the same outrageous prices. Virgin market, low overhead store, equals more profit. To me that philosophy isn't worth spending my money at. Additionally I now have to pay 7% more in sales tax online because they opened a store in Ohio. Combine that with the lack of the cabelas experience and I have no reason to shop at cabelas online or in person. They opened a McDonald's with Resturant style prices. The only reason i bought from them online was to avoid sales tax. Cant do that anymore. As for shopping at cabelas anymore. No thanks. The only reason I can see shopping there will be if they have a product cheaper than someone else and I do ship to store. But let's face it. Cabelas having something cheaper than someone else online or local is rare.

Yep. The only time I order from them is when I have gift cards and coupons. Now that I have to pay sales tax, I doubt I even do that and if I am going to drive somewhere, it will be Wheeling...
 

Beentown

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,740
154
Sunbury, OH
Definitely happy it is here. At least they specialize in something other than Yoga pants. Prices are WAY better than Gander.
 

Boone

*Supporting Member*
833
96
N.E. O-H-I-O
Before the store opened they mailed me a flier showing the layout of the store and if seemed a ton smaller than the Wheeling store. I won't be stopping there anytime soon. The kids are on spring break this week and they want to go to Wheeling on Friday. They like all of the mounts and the great aquarium, containing some species of fish that they have caught before.
I hate that we have to pay sales tax now due to the Ohio store. Will be buying less from them as a result.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Yep. The only time I order from them is when I have gift cards and coupons. Now that I have to pay sales tax, I doubt I even do that and if I am going to drive somewhere, it will be Wheeling...

Ask huck.. We we're walking around the expo and a guy said something to us.. I walked over and it went like this..

"What do we have here"
He jammed a coupon in my face and said "$20 off your next order at cabelas"
"Off how much"
"150 dollars"
HAHA... Keep it man... I can get that discount on the internet any day. And I walked off laughing..

Huck was like.. You're kind of a dick..
I laughed and said "yeah that was kinda dickish."


Not as dickish as when Huck asked the Huntmore people how much the chair was and the guy said proudly $200 dollars.. " I Laughed out loud and said "For 200 dollars it better play with my balls"
 
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