How would you improve Cabela's stores if they were to listen?

[aflineman]

Online background check. Why in the heck do they feel they need to call in and wait, wait, wait ,wait... Yes folks might buy more while they are waiting, but it is very annoying. Especially when the online is available. (Don't buy from them often, but sometimes they have used unusual firearms, which you don't see very often.
Veterans Day gets you employee pricing (if you are a Vet), which is not to shabby.

 

[jimwsea]

When you get to the register I tell them I need a price match in their website and get it for that price. Having a smartphone can really payoff there, on one trip alone I save over $70the from what is marked on the shelf. It sucks that the stores don't show web sale prices but it is what it is. And whenever possible I will point that out to other customers also, I save one guy $30 on a shooting rest we both were looking at. Just kinda my way of paying it forward.

If you don't have a smartphone, a Kindle with 3G will also work. The 3G wireless will work if there is no wi-fi reception. Crude but effective.

 

[mudflatmike]

Several years ago they talked me into getting one of their (Cabela's)credit cards. I figured I'd just pay off the balance each month and in the process, accumulate club points.
The first month I tried to pay off the balance at the Lacy store, they wouldn't accept CASH, you know, green legal tender! They said I had to pay of my card with either a check or another credit card! It's the first time in my 62 years that cash has been refused. They blamed the bank they used. The card was left at the Lacy store in several hundred pieces.

 

[Aero Denezol]

They need to stock cheap Russian Ammo for my milsurps.. There is no way I'm paying $25 a box for 9x18

 

[Matt Selders]

Prices are pretty good on their sale flyers and with the bounce backs. Wholesale Sports will match sale pices, even at a loss if need be. The Portland Metro area would be a good location for one if you could find retail space at a good price per square foot. They have a huge real estate dept for the company. Usually they buy up some land near a freeway that has good growth potential on a ten year outlook. Then they go to the city/copunty officials and say, we'll build here if you give XXX in tax breaks. The officials usually say no initially. Then two years down the road, when everything around the land they own builds up, they go back and do it over and over until the officals cave in, hungry for the revenue that they draw. This is why you generally see them on the outskirts of metro areas.

The stores are pretty. Gun Library is cool most of the time too.

 

[mkwerx]

Prices are pretty good on their sale flyers and with the bounce backs. Wholesale Sports will match sale pices, even at a loss if need be. The Portland Metro area would be a good location for one if you could find retail space at a good price per square foot. They have a huge real estate dept for the company. Usually they buy up some land near a freeway that has good growth potential on a ten year outlook. Then they go to the city/copunty officials and say, we'll build here if you give XXX in tax breaks. The officials usually say no initially. Then two years down the road, when everything around the land they own builds up, they go back and do it over and over until the officals cave in, hungry for the revenue that they draw. This is why you generally see them on the outskirts of metro areas.

The stores are pretty. Gun Library is cool most of the time too.

After talking with some of the guys from Springfield, they tried similar tactics in Eugene - but Eugene kept giving them the finger, so they went next door to Springfield and got the green light to open up - though they just took over existing retail space, instead of building the larger store they wanted in Eugene. I guess Eugene didn't want the jobs, the additional revenue, or the additional exposure a Cabela's would bring. So they have a vacant field adjacent to I-5, instead of a huge retail store that would've brought a couple hundred jobs.

Would be cool to have a Cabela's that's closer than Lacey or Springfield, but unless I need something from them *right now* - I usually wait for the online sales to get good enough to make it worth the shipping, or occasionally get in on the free-shipping sales, which is a net gain considering the gas burned for a 220 mile round trip.

 

[Withemsgunshop]

I have been in three diferent Cabelas stores. In every one of them the person in the gun library could not find his %%s with eather hand. If you are going to sell collectible and hi end guns at least know what you are talking about. The only thing I have ever bought at one was a Tshirt....

 

[Jammer Six]

I would urge them to open one near civilization.

 

[billt]

I have been in three diferent Cabelas stores. In every one of them the person in the gun library could not find his %%s with eather hand.

You have just described about 95% of current gun shop employees nationwide.

 

[Matt Selders]

In the Gun Library in Springfield is a guy named Jade, he is awesome. Really knows his stuff and will chat for hours, but is quick to help. I used to work with him once upon a time. If you head into that store, he is a really good guy to look up.

We walk up firearms to the front register for many reasons. The biggest one I can think of, is that the transfer is not complete until the sale is finalized. Sometimes the gun will ring up wrong and the hunting employee is there to help. Sometimes there is a credit card issue. Safety and theft are also a concern. We like the opportunity to thank a customer for his/her purchase too. I always throw out a handshake and let them know to call me if there are any concerns after the gun has been purchased. I apologize if it has upset any guests in our store.

Matt Selders

 

[STNOSU]

No matter what store you shop at your going to get people complaining about something. Yeah things can get spendy at Cabelas or any of the other big box stores but I can usually find some kind of a deal almost every time I go. Personally I like going there, I like the Lacey one a lil better due to the size but I can make due. I was in San Antonio this past weekend and hit up a Bass Pro's, they had a pretty good selection, their employees in the hunting and gun department were worthless and wouldn't even acknowledge you. I ended up helping grab a couple owl decoys for a couple of ladies that couldn't reach them. Ended up being invited by their husbands to go shooting with them at a range out there and had a blast.

Bimart has good prices but I still get crappy service from some of their employees, in Corvallis each of the stores have an older gentleman that could be brothers that are very helpful. The rest of the employee's besides one of the managers leave something to be desired. Its similiar to the Philomath Gun Shop, people on here for the most part swear by the place. I have come across some good pricing from their online site but everytime I walk in with cash in hand I get talked down upon or I am pushed to something that is the complete opposite of what I want. Its all subjective.

As for being walked to the door everywhere besides a true gun shop we have been walked to the door with our gun purchase. Is it really that big of deal?

 

[dakaham]

Lets be honest here we all have a gripe or two about everystore we go to. But all in all cabalas must be doing something right because it doesn't seem to matter what store you look at the registers are just about melting down in there everyday! I like Bimart cause they are local, I like cabalas cause they have what I need in a pinch. You do have to watch the prices but compare them to midway,after shipping, and cabalas beats em probably 90%b of the time. As for their guns, I don't know why anyone that has any knowledge of prices would even bother looking.

 

[WhyteCheddar]

I have only been in cabelas a couple of times but have received outstanding customer service each time.
I have bought many items from them online/via catalog as well. The prices I paid were unbeatable.
I bought a very large tent last summer and not only paid a great price but also paid only $5 for shipping on an item that weighed nearly 100lbs.
I am sure if I went in there often enough I would find something that rubbed me wrong but when you deal with human beings you are going to experience that at some point.
I dont even mind paying a little extra once in a while for the convenience of having such a selection of products available in one place.

 

[billt]

It doesn't matter if you are shopping for a gun, a television set, or a power drill. When you walk into a store, the more you are armed with your own knowledge, instead of being reliant on someone else's that too many times doesn't exist, the better off you will be.

 

[jdub75]

I can't say I have always been a huge fan of the service, However, they are the only place that puts forth the effort to make a true RETAIL experience for outdoors folks. Sure, we can all shop online. But there are ALOT of things I won't buy until I can look & see the quality, features, etc. Sure, there is Wholesale sports, Dicks, etc...but they all have FAR WORSE service. I can walk around Dicks/Wholesale for 45 minutes and maybe have 1 person even acknowledge my presence. Even then, chances are its a 18 year old kid who just points to what I ask about. Every time I've been to Cabelas, I at get acknowledged several times in the same time. Retail is tough...we want online prices, but also want an employee on every aisle when we want one, but to be left alone when we're ok.

 

[Jammer Six]

When you walk into a store, the more you are armed with your own knowledge, instead of being reliant on someone else's that too many times doesn't exist, the better off you will be.

Separate issue.

Customer service is about dealing with all customers, including the ones who don't know anything about the item they're buying.

Under your theory, no new shooter would be able to learn. And that would apply across the board, too.

 

[SonicBlue03]

They're opening a Redneck Disneyland near the outlets at Tulalip. I'm sure they'll heed none of this advice and manage to create more of a traffic jam than the Canadians make trying to buy undertaxed stuff.

 

[billt]

Under your theory, no new shooter would be able to learn.

It's not a "theory". You're not going to learn anything about firearms from sales associates at gun shops, anymore than you are going to learn to become computer savvy from the pimple faced kid at Best Buy. If they knew more they wouldn't be working there to begin with. There are plenty of places for a new shooter to learn about guns. Across the sales counter isn't one of them. It's why it is called "sales", not "education".

 

[Jammer Six]

It's not a "theory". You're not going to learn anything about firearms from sales associates at gun shops, anymore than you are going to learn to become computer savvy from the pimple faced kid at Best Buy.

I hope you're successful in your career, there is no future for you in customer service.

 

[Key-Hay]

There brand name stuff can be cheaply made. I bought a backpack style fishing tackle box and it's coming apart in places.

Would rather have a Bass Pro Shop here.