DitchDigger
NES Member
Yep. BassPro house brands suck. They have too much cheap crap. Cabelas carries better quality product overall.
This ^
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Yep. BassPro house brands suck. They have too much cheap crap. Cabelas carries better quality product overall.
Cabela's may have high quality stuff but their prices on everything in the store except used guns and ammo are ridiculous. They seem to cater to what I call the "field and stream" outdoorsman, Someone with more money than common sense that doesn't bat an eye when told they need 5000 dollars worth of junk to go deer hunting. More often than not you can get the brand-name of whatever the cabela's version is for much much cheaper from a different store or the internet. I pop in whenever I'm at market basket to check their long gun racks and have come across a few gems, but I've never bought anything else there except old timey candy and honey-roasted pecans.
................. I always find what I'm looking for at the LGS's. When I can't find the fishing stuff I need, which is rarely, I will order online. These big box stores could disappear and it wouldn't change one iota the way I buy stuff I need.
I found Cabela's to have some high to very high quality items. Bass pro on the other hand I found them to be the Harbor Freight of the outdoor world.
Anyone else find this to be true?
The one time I was in the Berlin store, I looked on Amazon for the accessories I was looking at and learned that Cabela's was selling for list price. A Cabela's $30 item of interest was $20 on Azn, so I put it back and haven't darkened that door since then. When in Scarborough, I noticed some deals in the "Cave", but nothing I needed or wanted at the time.
Big box stores and Malls are going away as we speak. Internet sales make up most of the sales these days, including those of the big box stores.
I do commercial construction and I go to a department store and build them rooms to ship out internet orders. I have been told that as of now almost 70% of their sales are online.
I rarely darken the doors of BPS or Cabelas...better prices, service and selection at my LGS and for fishing, I hit up local fishing supply stores...again better in almost every department than the big box sporting goods stores. I always find what I'm looking for at the LGS's. When I can't find the fishing stuff I need, which is rarely, I will order online. These big box stores could disappear and it wouldn't change one iota the way I buy stuff I need.
I thought I'd do most-all of my business at an Indie Gun Store like everyone else - until they ran-into logistical problems with 3rd-party suppliers. Turns-out, Indie Gun Stores don't 'special-order' anything in small quantities like they used to. Vendors want to negotiate large-dollar contracts with big-box retailers to get serious inventory/volume flowing, not supply nickel-and-dime Indie retailers.
Let's say you want to try a 'unique' box of ammo, guess what - mom-n-pop Indie gun store can't get it, and aren't really interested in trying. They want you to buy what THEY have on the shelf. You want that special new bullet that Hornady has advertised in the Tacti-Cool magazines or a special +P load that Sig Sauer is now offering? If it ain't on the Indie Shelf already, you're not getting it. I've actually been referred to Cabelas/BPS by these stores - "they might have it"....now, if I requested a CASE of this 'new' ammo, mom-n-pop Indie Gun Store might try to inquire....but you have to front cash and wait for them to negotiate your 'special order', which might be denied anyway.
I've seen this before with guitars, and the rise of Guitar Center. Big Brand Names want to negotiate big-dollar product distribution deals with a big-box retailer instead of servicing hundreds/thousands of Indie Retailers, which is a labor-intensive effort. Suddenly, product distribution in the Indie pipelines gets very 'scarce', with Big-Box retailers getting all they want.
The MAIN ISSUE is, the consumer has very LITTLE flexibility in this arrangement - "someone else" is still deciding for you what is available for purchase. The traditional avenues of getting something 'special' or 'custom' from a product vendor are drying-up.
I've only had to special order one firearm and my LGS did it for me and charged me a fair price for it...no hassles at all. I've special ordered dies for my reloading press that another LGS didn't have in stock...three days later I was holding them in my hand. I could've ordered from somewhere else but I like to keep local places in business. I fly fish a lot and tie a lot of my own flies. There's a place in Bedford NH and one in North Conway that has everything I'd ever need...if per chance they don't, I pay for it at their store and they drop ship it right to my house. I usually have it within just a few days.
Must be your pretty smile, and the State you live-in....
I also watched the segment, you are correct.I just watched the Tucker piece seems Mitt Romney and Paul Singer are the same people ruining companies and lives.
sadly, this happens all too often with publicly owned companies... it becomes more about the bottom line and less about the people who make the company.
Ah jeez. We all want free markets and companies who are allowed to make profits and not go out of business - until it huwtz ouwwah widdle feewings.
This thread was beat to death 2 years ago. You can't have BPS and Cabelas exist separate. They will close stores like the multitude of "sporting goods" retailers that put each other out of business over the last decade.
But they suck because (fill in your feeling here)!
It's like the anti-Walmart and anti-McDonald's mafia that runs around this country.
I know you mean well, but WTF???? You're starting to sound like Lizzie Warren. "They should have to give up X to the little guy because FEELINGS!" No. No they shouldn't. That's not how capitalism works. And if they crap on employees and another company can do just as well and NOT crap on employees, then the no-crapping company will succeed and they will fail. (See: Market Basket)
Am I sad that we have one company? In a way, I guess, yes. Although in 2019, with so many choices out there, was I going to go out of my way to drive to Berlin to get something from Cabela's ever? No. I'll get it online. If they have a better X or a longer lasting Y is becoming more and more moot.
Is this just business and is it necessary to attempt to survive another day. . . . AND fulfill the mission of making profits for the company? Uh, yeah. That's how business works. Adam Smith and all that.
Public companies also leave a lot of money on the table. I worked at two companies that were private and went public. In both cases, on the sales side, they went from "fine, close the $500K deal on Monday" to "OMG, it is end of Q tomorrow, offer them a $100K discount, we need to get it in this week".you may have misinterpreted my comment.. I think we're on the same page given your MB example.
I'm not talking about employees feelings.. but the difference btwn a public and private company is night/day. Just how employees are treated in general. A public company is beholden to the stock price and shareholders, as well it should be, but with that, the management screws employees to appease the stockholders. A private company typically is more flexible in policies, has profit-sharing, is more connected to its employees, and isn't micromanaging against a number on the DOW, NASDAQ, etc.
Professionally, I've worked for 3 companies in my 30 yrs. One small (20 emp) private that got bought out by a large (10K emp) public, One large private (4k emp) public, and now a 50 emp private. Of all, the worst I've been treated was by the large public firm. Wage freezes, vacation freezes, serious performance pressures.. Even my current (bad) situation, is better than my days there.
and comparing me to Liz Warren.. dem's fightin words..