Cabela’s Outfits New Stores Across the Country
Outdoor retailer offers a full range of on-site services to adventurous customers.
Susan H. Fishman

An exterior view from Cabela’s Fort Worth, Texas, freestanding location.

Cabela’s, the largest mail order, retail and Internet outdoor outfitter in the world, is expanding into areas where its core customer will benefit the most, according to Kevin T. Rhodes, director of real estate for the company.

“We are proud to be the world’s foremost outfitter and aim to be the primary resource for men, women and children of all ages who enjoy the opportunities offered in the outdoors,” says Rhodes. “We are specifically focused on hunting, fishing, camping and outdoor gear and apparel as well as anything that the outdoor lover might need or want. We intend to accommodate the entire family of the core customer.”

Cabela’s was established in 1961 when Dick Cabela came up with a plan to sell fishing flies he purchased while at a furniture show in Chicago through national outdoor magazines. In the beginning, Dick and his wife Mary Cabela ran the business from the kitchen table of their home in Chappell, Nebraska. The operation was ultimately moved from their kitchen table to various buildings in Chappell, and nearly 30 years later to a new 120,000-square-foot world headquarters. But even that facility was quickly outgrown. To accommodate the increased growth in all areas of the company, construction of a new, state-of-the-art addition more than doubling the size of the company’s previous building was completed in the summer of 2002.

The foundation of the company is its world-famous catalog business. The company produces more than 76 different catalogs per year, including specialty books focusing on such outdoor pursuits as archery, fly-fishing and boating, as well as massive Spring and Fall master catalogs with more than 500 pages. Internationally known as a source of affordable, high-quality outdoor equipment, Cabela’s catalogs are shipped to all 50 states and 120 countries. More than 120 million catalogs are mailed each year as demand continues to grow.

Cabela’s in-store conservation mountain exhibit puts the outdoors on a pedestal.

Cabela’s retail division operates popular destination stores throughout the country. As much wildlife museums and education centers as they are retail stores, Cabela’s showrooms provide a truly unique shopping experience. They often feature African dioramas; museums showcasing animals and scenery which reflects the local landscape; a two-story conservation mountain; an aquarium filled with fish native to the area; hand-painted and themed murals; a restaurant; an indoor archery range; a world-class gun library and hundreds of wild-game trophies displayed in Cabela’s trademark bring-the-outdoors-indoors showroom. Other highlights include a laser arcade, furniture department, general store, fly-fishing shop and gift shop. Cabela’s secondary mission is to educate visitors on the many issues that affect the outdoors, such as habitat restoration, water quality and hunter safety. The stores highlight this with plaques located near animals that indicate the species, average size and where they can be found on the globe.

The stores range in size from 40,000 square feet to 250,000 square feet with the majority being more than 100,000 square feet. The décor blends natural wood and stone interiors and exteriors along with the trademark green roof to create a warm, welcoming outdoor-themed environment.

Rhodes says when a visitor arrives at the retail showroom, there is an expectation that he or she will spend an average of more than 3 hours exploring the many displays of museum-quality taxidermy showing the animals in natural settings. And the restaurants/delis at Cabela’s offer unique wild game meals and sandwiches, such as Caribou, Elk, Bison and Ostrich. If visitors can’t find what they are looking for in the retail store, they will have the opportunity to shop online from a kiosk in the store and have it delivered to the store to be picked up by the customer or actually shipped to their home.

Cabela’s currently has 26 stores, all owned by Cabela’s Inc., in the U.S. with locations predominantly across the Midwest and Northeast. The current retail store distribution spans from Lacey, Washington, to East Hartford, Connecticut. The company has plans to expand its presence to numerous locations across the U.S. and Canada. Cabela’s is currently evaluating multiple sites nationwide and is aiming for areas where hunting and fishing are prevalent and the outdoorsmen and women are passionate about their interests. Locations are determined by many factors, says Rhodes.

The vast expanse of a Cabela’s store mirrors that of the wild it reveres.

“First, we look at our catalog sales across the country; we seek areas that have a heavy concentration of customers and sales. Next, we look at the locations of our Cabela’s Visa CLUB cardholders. These cardholders are generally avid sportsmen and women. Finally, we look for locations with high-traffic counts, often close to heavily traveled interstates.”

Cabela’s has both freestanding stores, as well as stores that are part of larger developments, such as Franklin Towne Plaza in Boise, Idaho, the St. Louis Mills complex in Hazelwood, Missouri, and Meadowlands Xanadu in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In 2007, the company opened eight new locations in Hoffman Estates, Illinois; Gonzales, Louisiana; Hammond, Indiana; East Hartford, Connecticut; Reno, Nevada; Post Falls, Idaho; Lacey, Washington; and Hazelwood, Missouri.

“We chose these locations due to their close proximity to major highways and interstates as well as the concentration of outdoors enthusiasts, catalog recipients and CLUB cardholders,” says Rhodes. “Obviously market share is the goal, but we are a destination store so you won’t see a Cabela’s on every corner. We recently purchased S.I.R. warehouse in Canada and plan to continue their legacy of customer service and quality products.”

©2008 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.