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Another reason to not shop Cabelas

8K views 88 replies 56 participants last post by  Don Freeman 
#1 ·
I normally like to shop the small shops but I had this gift certificate that I needed to use and went to Cabelas at Tulalip. Trying to find something to spend the gift certificate on I came accross an encap of rod and reel combos all set up with everthing needed to hit the water, normally $169 but had a sale pice sign on the top of the endcap for $59. I know from the past that the quality of the Cabelas line isn't so good but for the right price, what the heck, might make a good gift for one of the kidsSo I grabbed a box and headed to the cash register. To my suprise it rang up at $169. After a long discussion at the register, ended up going back to the guys in the fly shop and found out that the folks that set up the endcap the previous night put the wrong sign on the endcap. Being that it was well into the afternoon I was suprised that they hadn't noticed this big mistake. The best that they could do for me is to take the sign down and not even an appoligy for the mistake.They made me feel like I was the idiot and it had a little of the feeling of the old bait and switch. Well I guess it was my mistake to believe in the encap sale sign and maybe a bigger mistake to walk into the place at all. Won't be making that mistake again!
 
#4 ·
I think one of their problems is that they're just too big to be organized.
I went down there (to Lacey) from Tacoma to see if they had a Redington CT in the size and weight I wanted. Nope. Had a chance to stop in again a couple of days later. Yep. Marked at around $160 or something like that. I knew from the forum here that they were going for under a hundred bucks SOMEwhere.....so I held off. Anyway, online price at Cabellas didn't match store price, blah blah blah. Settled on a rod for about a hundred bucks, got it to the register and guess what? $160. We had a talk about that, and it ended up being ok but..............what the customer sees SHOULD be what the customer pays. Or at least a decent explanation. For a retail giant, I'm surprised how often this happens there. At my local fly shop? No surprises, no problems, no apologies needed. Thats worth alot.
 
#12 ·
I was at the 2a regional wrestling tourny in Woolley on Saturday, never seen so many camo hats in my life.
 
#16 ·
There original store had the best bargain cave. But was the only store back then. Stuff was super cheap.

Funny how A small mail order fly tyer is the largest outdoor retailer around. Depends what you want I guess. I just know I have a hard time spending gift cards there. But I have a lot of stuff already.
 
#11 ·
I bought a 7' 3wt for 50 bucks there just after they opened in Tulalip. one and only time I've been in a Cabela's
 
#15 ·
My dad and uncles' are big cabelas fans. I haven't had much luck there. Since all my favorite mom and pop shops have went away, I have been liking Big R. A little big box storish, but have more than impressed me. Omak is where I do most of my non basic shopping, so finally having a fly shop there is convenient.
 
#18 ·
I just picked up a boat dolly in the Bargain Cave in Tulalip. It was reduced quite a bit but first I wanted to make sure it would work on my Pram so I asked if I could test it on one of the Jon Boats outside. At first the boat department head wasn't sure but I won him over and they let me test it out. In the end the folks really wanted to work with me.

I've also found that the guys who work the fly shop there are more than willing to help folks out as well. I brought a broken CT back just wondering if they could help me out because I happened to be in the area with it. They were willing to trade me straight up so I didn't have to wait for a return or deal with shipping but they didn't have a similar one in stock so the guy working there searched out a comparable rod that was actually a little higher end and said he'd swap me straight across. He bent over backward to help me out.

I will agree though that the fly guys there are not always sure what is happening in their department. It sounds like other people are in charge of display set up, inventory ordering and stocking which is at times frustrating for them when they are not always sure what they have in stock and when they want to provide a specific item for their customer.

I'll support them in the future, I'll also support Pacific and Avid and Ted's and John's and on line. How many of you still have a newspaper subscription? Who still sends their film in to be developed? Do you still rent from Blockbuster? Just curious.
 
#27 ·
I just picked up a boat dolly in the Bargain Cave in Tulalip. It was reduced quite a bit but first I wanted to make sure it would work on my Pram so I asked if I could test it on one of the Jon Boats outside. At first the boat department head wasn't sure but I won him over and they let me test it out. In the end the folks really wanted to work with me.

I've also found that the guys who work the fly shop there are more than willing to help folks out as well. I brought a broken CT back just wondering if they could help me out because I happened to be in the area with it. They were willing to trade me straight up so I didn't have to wait for a return or deal with shipping but they didn't have a similar one in stock so the guy working there searched out a comparable rod that was actually a little higher end and said he'd swap me straight across. He bent over backward to help me out.

I will agree though that the fly guys there are not always sure what is happening in their department. It sounds like other people are in charge of display set up, inventory ordering and stocking which is at times frustrating for them when they are not always sure what they have in stock and when they want to provide a specific item for their customer.

I'll support them in the future, I'll also support Pacific and Avid and Ted's and John's and on line. How many of you still have a newspaper subscription? Who still sends their film in to be developed? Do you still rent from Blockbuster? Just curious.
this is the balanced view IMO. i love cabelas for what they are and i'm glad they opened one at tulalip. of course you're going to be disappointed if you compare them straight up with a local shop run by a passionate and skilled entrepreneur/merchant - and to me they simply can't compete head to head with a local shop, just the like the local shop can't compete head to head with them - two different animals, but cabela's knows their market and it's on the local entrepreneur to know his or pay the price for not competing in a savvy fashion. the market is cruel, and we make the market, not cabelas. "adapt or perish". i love the local shops but i resent the idea of an appeal to my sympathy or my conscience to gain my business. this is commerce - if you have a better value, sell it, market it, don't preach it. preaching is for politics and faith, not selling recreational equipment.

i do find it fascinating and ironic how many of the posts here complain that there are few real bargains (which i agree with), since the majority of threads bashing the big store seem to focus on the way they run small local shops into the ground with prices the locals can't compete with.

with or without cabelas, 8 of 10 small businesses will fold within two years, less than one in ten will survive to ten years. that's always been true and it points to the most common reasons small fly shops close - the people who run them don't possess much business/marketing savvy, and it typically takes a few years to gain it through experience. meanwhile, it only takes a couple years to run out of financing while operating at a loss.
 
#19 ·
I recently had a less then favorable experience at Cabelas on a non flyfishing item. I'll pass on them from now on.
I also read the newspaper everyday. Could there be a correlation between the two?
 
#20 ·
Big R in Omak is actually pretty good, has that small shop feel buried in the middle of the large store. The folks working the fly shop seems to know their buisness and seem to work with you for somewhat decent deals. Worth stopping by if your in the area.
 
#21 ·
A couple of friends of mine went to the Cabela's in Lacey and had an experience where the price of an item on the shelf did not match the price at the item at the register. The shelf price was lower. Fortunately for them, one of them had a smart phone and looked the price up online. The online price matched the shelf price, so the cashier rang them up for the lower price. That occurred on more than one item.
 
#23 ·
i absolutely hate the "stores", i only go in there if a friend insists, or i have a gift card, they have at most 5 percent of their catalog items in the store. most everytime i have ever gone into a store with a list, from the catalog, i walk out without buying even one item, and swearing ill never go back, but i do:(
 
#24 ·
I used to shop there quite a bit back when I lived in SD and had a store a couple miles away from the house. I still get mailed the hardback catalogs from the amount of money I spent in there. I've bought some stuff that was great quality wise and, at the time, went thru some ice shanties that were less quality. Couldn't beat their return policy back then with a stick. Something wrong, just take it back for an exchange. I'd run my shanty all winter, have a couple problems, and take it in for an exchange on another. Did that like three times. I was pretty hard on shanties.

Now that I don't live close to one, my Cabela's purchases have reduced to almost nil. Always such a pain to return stuff by mail.
 
#25 ·
Point of information. I am an enforcement officer in my state and although my area is a "pesticide use enforcement", I have a license for the "Weights and Measures" enforcement. I will tell you all that if you ever see a posted price, and the register tries to sell it to you for a different price, they must give it to you for the posted price. If not, take a picture of the display, get the manager, and tell them that your next call is to the Weights and measures office. If they still won't sell it, call them with the complaint. The fine will be a good one, then they crawl up their backside finding other stuff. They don't want them in their stores. This goes for what ever store, whatever item, even if the sale was over and they forgot to take the sign down. Scanners are also on the list, so they nail them there as well. Don't let them get away with this stuff. Weights and Measures was created for a reason folks.
 
G
#29 ·
Good point about the Weights and Measures!

I have never lived near a Cabelas. I have never even been in a Cabelas. I have been in other similar stores like Bass Pros in Las Vegas. That store was impressive with the sheer volume of merchandise, the indoor archery range, the gun rooms, and the huge aquarium displays. The downside is of course they are much more impersonal. They don't yell your name when you come in. You don't bring beer in at the end of the day and sit out front talking fly fishing. And, from what I've seen, the sales staffs are far less knowledgeable.

In my mind it's an obvious trade off. I don't go to Burger King expecting a pampered "just the way I like it" burger. I don't go to CostCo expecting a salesperson to follow me around and loading stuff in my basket. On the other side I don't expect my Mom and Pop fly shop to have a massive casting pond and five different kinds of driftboats on display.
 
#32 ·
Topstoy,

Really? It's that big a deal to you? Cabela's is a big box store with lots of people. People make mistakes. So Cabela's makes a lot of them. And other people can't make you feel like an idiot, so don't blame them. Only you can decide when to feel like an idiot. Unless you are an idiot.

And in my experience Cabela's low end fly rods are an amazingly good deal considering the quality per dollar. I have 3 of them, although one is a replacement for one that broke while casting. But I've also seen high end rods blow up in use, so I don't hold that against them.

Cabela's is a unique experience, 3 acres of camo clothing under one roof! Many in women's fashion camo styles no less. I get a kick out of the place, but it's not the best stop for fly fishing tackle.

Sg
 
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