Has Cabelas gone down hill?

[OntarioHunter]

Sadly, I think Amazon is the wave of the future. All the dept stores are gone up here now: Eatons, Sears, Hudsons Bay. There's something lost from our culture when we have to do our Christmas shopping from a computer screen. No more meeting old friends in the aisles or watching the kids faces light up in the toy section or browsing the rows of tree ornaments. Now it's just wait at the window for the delivery guy and hope you get to the door before the drive-by shoplifter who's following him around. The upside is online shopping will save on the carbon footprint. I guess if it keeps the world alive a bit longer we can be thankful.

 

[perma]

They’d rather sell you credit cards and timeshares.

I remember buying a returned set of binos. I asked the lady if I can open the box and see through them. No issues, then I look through them and try to set the diopter but the lock wouldn’t budge free. Her response? “I never use that you’re not supposed to adjust it anyway”.

Bought them anyway but told her to do her research on what I diopter ring is. The bird watchers of the Midwest don’t like hunters…

 

[BrentD]

The bird watchers of the Midwest don’t like hunters…

Since when? Not my experience at all. Quite the opposite, in fact.

 

[NEWHunter]

I thought this thread was done over a year ago after the second post . . .

 

[Gr8bawana]

Sadly, I think Amazon is the wave of the future. All the dept stores are gone up here now: Eatons, Sears, Hudsons Bay. There's something lost from our culture when we have to do our Christmas shopping from a computer screen. No more meeting old friends in the aisles or watching the kids faces light up in the toy section or browsing the rows of tree ornaments. Now it's just wait at the window for the delivery guy and hope you get to the door before the drive-by shoplifter who's following him around. The upside is online shopping will save on the carbon footprint. I guess if it keeps the world alive a bit longer we can be thankful.

 

[longbow51]

Never really shopped Cabelas; went with Bean's (still independent, but far away from hunting now, and crappy warrantee, so in the past), Eddie Bauer (still good bags and down clothing), Orvis (don't much care for their rods, but my wife likes their clothing, and their tying stuff is good), and Scheel's (employee owned and good lines, Sage, Winston, Cooper, et. al).

For tents/bags/X-country skiing /climbing/canoes had a local store which we used exclusively.

Always best to deal with a local store.

 

[Foxtrot1]

 

[Nick87]

As a youth in the 80’s finding an outdoor magazine was almost the same as finding a discarded girly mag. When I found a catalog I could look at the photos and dream of what I could do with the stuff I saw there.
When I began my traveling as a young adult I NEVER missed a chance to stop in at Cabelas. For my family it WAS the destination. I spent thousands.
Over the years I have acquired more and I need less.

Feel exactly the same, except it was for a kid in the 90's.

 

[elkhnter]

From what I’ve seen in the past couple years, Cabela’s is piled up at the bottom of the hill, rotting and disappearing.

 

[Gr8bawana]

It won't be long until bass pro does away with the Cabela's name. Cabela's shot themselves in the foot when they went public and had to keep the stockholders happy.

 

[Gellar]

This morning I was shooting my muzzleloader. After I was done shooting I cleaned it and checked all the screws on the sight to make sure they were snug. Snap, I twisted a head off the little screw for the altitude adjustment and my sight is broke. 2 days before I leave to go to Colorado. After I calm down I decide to run to Cabelas. It’s only 10 minutes away and They surely have a true glo muzzleloader sight. The boy and I walk in and he wants to sit on a 4 wheeler. Which is perfect because then you can cut down the aisle and you don’t get bombarded to take a credit card. We get back to the gun section and there’s not even a sight in the muzzleloader section, which was about 4’ long. We move over a few aisles to the area where they keep other sights. No Tru Glo Ghost ring. I ask a person at the gun counter, who seems annoyed even though he wasn’t talking to anyone. He comes out from behind the counter and shows me a sight called the beard buster turkey sight. I’m sure it’s good but not what I want. The salesman tells me I’ll have to order one offline. I reply thank you, I don’t have time I leave on Wednesday. And I leave the store. When I get to the truck I call the gun shop in the town I work. He knows I’m leaving on Wednesday, he’s closed on Tuesday and was closing at noon today. He tells me he doesn’t have one in stock, but I just need the rear sight so even though he’s closed tomorrow he’ll come in and either drill out the screw and replace it or he has a used muzzleloader with a ghost ring sight on it. He offered to take that sight off if he can’t fix mine on his day off so I can leave to hunt. Shop local, Screw Cabelas, I’m done.

Anytime I get a cabelas gift card from now on I’ll sell it for less than value.

 

[Nick87]

This morning I was shooting my muzzleloader. After I was done shooting I cleaned it and checked all the screws on the sight to make sure they were snug. Snap, I twisted a head off the little screw for the altitude adjustment and my sight is broke. 2 days before I leave to go to Colorado. After I calm down I decide to run to Cabelas. It’s only 10 minutes away and They surely have a true glo muzzleloader sight. The boy and I walk in and he wants to sit on a 4 wheeler. Which is perfect because then you can cut down the aisle and you don’t get bombarded to take a credit card. We get back to the gun section and there’s not even a sight in the muzzleloader section, which was about 4’ long. We move over a few aisles to the area where they keep other sights. No Tru Glo Ghost ring. I ask a person at the gun counter, who seems annoyed even though he wasn’t talking to anyone. He comes out from behind the counter and shows me a sight called the beard buster turkey sight. I’m sure it’s good but not what I want. The salesman tells me I’ll have to order one offline. I reply thank you, I don’t have time I leave on Wednesday. And I leave the store. When I get to the truck I call the gun shop in the town I work. He knows I’m leaving on Wednesday, he’s closed on Tuesday and was closing at noon today. He tells me he doesn’t have one in stock, but I just need the rear sight so even though he’s closed tomorrow he’ll come in and either drill out the screw and replace it or he has a used muzzleloader with a ghost ring sight on it. He offered to take that sight off if he can’t fix mine on his day off so I can leave to hunt. Shop local, Screw Cabelas, I’m done.

Anytime I get a cabelas gift card from now on I’ll sell it for less than value.

Yup, pretty painful watching them destroy what was once a great thing.

 

[Sytes]

I have a very select FEW true, "Mom and Pop" shops. A custom gun shop, a fly fishing shop... And(?) Heck, maybe my new Fiat Ram truck dealership(?), if that counts... Reality - Between Big Box and Amazon, few true Mom and Pop shops hold worth - with the exception of personal service hopefully followed by a few random purchased items as reciprocal appreciation.

Personally, it's hard to dismiss BPS or Cab entirely. I like my fishing clothes, i.e. Redhead vented ultralight button-down shirts, boat bits n pieces, and soft-bait... A plethora of good Yamamoto, Storm crap to fill my tackle box(es)... Heck, I'm likely in the hole (Boat, tackle, fuel, travel, etc some $60 per fish I catch, regardless 3" perch or a 40" pike.

@Gellar , I'll buy your Cabela's G/C's from ya 0.70 on the $1. Lord knows I'll spend it.

 

[Gellar]

I have a very select FEW true, "Mom and Pop" shops. A custom gun shop, a fly fishing shop... And(?) Heck, maybe my new Fiat Ram truck dealership(?), if that counts... Reality - Between Big Box and Amazon, few true Mom and Pop shops hold worth - with the exception of personal service hopefully followed by a few random purchased items as reciprocal appreciation.

Personally, it's hard to dismiss them BPS or Cab entirely. I like my fishing clothes, i.e. Redhead vented ultralight button-down shirts, boat bits n pieces, and soft-bait... A plethora of good Yamamoto, Storm crap to fill my tackle box(es)... Heck, I'm likely in the hole (Boat, tackle, fuel, travel, etc some $60 per fish I catch, regardless 3" perch or a 40" pike.

@Gellar , I'll buy your Cabela's G/C's from ya 0.70 on the $1. Lord knows I'll spend it.

I get a lot of them. I’ll let you know when I have more. That’s how I usually get paid when I help on the farm.

I’ve bought a lot of stuff at cabelas. I even worked for them for a while after I graduated college. I used a gift card on August 15 to buy a 8’ propane hose. I selected ship to store, and usually it’s there in a day or 2. I hadn’t got a notice it was in so I figured I missed the email. I called to check on the status of said propane hose and the customer service lady could see I placed the order but it had not been delivered to the store yet. They had 4 of them on their shelf when I went in there today. I could have bought the thing for $10 cheaper and had it in 2 days off of Amazon but those dang gift cards.

 

[mtmuley]

There is a Scheel's close by me now. No need for Cabela's or BPS ever again. mtmuley

 

[Sask hunter]

Yes they have. I have better gun stores nearby and fishing stores online. Only thing they have is goose decoys and not many stores around here carry that. Goose decoys are a thing I don’t wnat to ship $$$. The other day I was there picking something up and all their shot shells were $5 more a box Instore vs their online store. Really angered me taking advantage of people who want shot shells now

 

[Gellar]

Yes they have. I have better gun stores nearby and fishing stores online. Only thing they have is goose decoys and not many stores around here carry that. Goose decoys are a thing I don’t wnat to ship $$$. The other day I was there picking something up and all their shot shells were $5 more a box Instore vs their online store. Really angered me taking advantage of people who want shot shells now

Ours doesn’t have any ammo in popular calibers. I know of a few people in shipping and receiving who will keep it back for you even before it hits the shelf.

 

[BillDoe708]

Yes they have. I have better gun stores nearby and fishing stores online. Only thing they have is goose decoys and not many stores around here carry that. Goose decoys are a thing I don’t wnat to ship $$$. The other day I was there picking something up and all their shot shells were $5 more a box Instore vs their online store. Really angered me taking advantage of people who want shot shells now

Tell them to price match themselves

 

[aci07]

I have to weigh in here. When I was growing up in Missouri, Bass pro was great... Only the stuff you bought there broke when you ventured passed the backyard. I discovered Cabelas- I saved up all my money and bought an airgun from them that broke nearly out of the box. They refunded my money and shipping and they made a customer for life. Once I moved out west and needed gear for western hunts-Cabelas. When gear with their name on it didn't live up to the hype they replaced it. I was bummed when Bass Pro bought them out. Bass Pro is ok- their gear is ok, but Cabelas put products to the test and stood behind them- I feel like Bass Pro took the walmart model and ran with it.

All that to say- yes I'm worried that they're going down hill.

 

[kansasdad]

It doesn’t seem too hard to spell the man’s name correctly, or figure out that the EBS is NOT a folding knife.