Use caution at cabelas

[Parf]

That's awesome, Dave!

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[Bailey Guns]

First, I hated seeing Cabela's come to CO simply because now when I get their screamin' deals online I have to pay sales tax. But, that ship has sailed.

The wife and I went to Cabela's south last week. I was kinda half-assed looking for a smoker and a metal detector. I already had a metal detector that I thought was a good deal in my shopping cart at Cabelas.com.

Anyway, got there, looked around for a while, admired the animal displays. Wife went looking for her stuff and I went my way. I started looking at smokers and this very nice and extremely knowledgeable sales lady, Chris, started explaining them to me. She knew more about smokers than I thought humanly possible. She sold me on one that was originally $499, on sale for $449, with 10% back in Cabela's bucks on my Visa if I paid with that (so basically it worked out to $399). After I decided on a the smoker she looked at me and said, outta the blue, "I also sell metal detectors in this dept but I don't know as much about them." WTF?

I axed her if they had some sort of facial recognition camera/software system in the store that compared shoppers to online accounts or some such thing and told her I had already put a MD in my shopping cart just hadn't bought it yet. She claimed they didn't but I'm not convinced. Anyway, the one I wanted online was sale-priced at $259. Same one in the store was $159 + 10% back in Cabela's Visa bucks.

I wound up buying them both. Happy ending, right?

BUT... I got home and found the same smoker had gone on sale that day online for $379 with a Cabela's rebate of $50 plus the 10% Cabela's bucks deal. I called the 800 number and got a "so sad, too bad" response. I called the store and they not only honored the online price, but refunded a $50 Cabela's bucks certificate to my Cabela's bucks account that I had used, they also refunded the $12 or so in Cabela's bucks I used on the purchase and gave me an additional 10% off the smoker for "all the trouble I went through". The $499 smoker wound up costing me about $238 after tax and I have $50 in Cabela's bucks BACK on my account (plus the bucks for 10% of the MD price).

My bottom line? The store is too far away, too crowded and too expensive for me to probably ever make another trip there. But the employees were some of the MOST helpful and knowledgeable retail people I've dealt with. I filled out the online survey and asked a manager to contact me. She called a few days later and I gave her the rundown on how helpful the two store employees were. She seemed pleased.

The wife doesn't have a Cabela's Visa. She bought a Lodge cast-iron griddle for $69...said it was a good deal. I got home and found the same griddle online at WalMart and Amazon for $38 w/free shipping. I was happy...she was pissed.

[osok-308]

I've had nothing but luck with them. Some things are over priced, but I found that some brands of ammo were cheaper than the Federal stuff you can get at Walmart. I like them and will probably continue to shop with them until I have issues. I also have some Cabela's brand vests that have lasted me a good while and still going strong.

[jerrymrc]

Until the stores came I had only done a little online at Cabela's. Having had the chance to go to both them and Bass-pro in person I prefer Cabela's. I too was looking at smokers last week. So far my receipts have been correct.

[driver]

I had that happen awhile back purchasing a Nikon Prostaff Scope. It didn't ring up right; they couldn't figure it out so I went back and pulled the three foot by two foot display sign and brought it up to the front. The stupid look on their faces was priceless.

This made me laugh.

[jerrymrc]

This made me laugh.

Me as well. Had to do that at sportsman's once. The reply was "That was supposed to be taken down"

[james_bond_007]

I could not agree more. The people I spoke to working there did not know where things where [sic] and could not help.

Most likely you encountered some of the seasonal help. Yes, they SHOULD be trained, but are often part-time and only on the payroll from Black Friday-ish through the end of the year.
My experience was very positive when I spoke to several very knowledgeable staff at the gun counter and in the ammo section.

It was also crowded ...

Any chance that this has to do with the fact that you went there less than a week before Christmas?

... and expensive

Online prices are typically always better, as there is a lot less overhead to support.
But when looking for something you need to "touch" or "test for fit", it is hard to do via Firefox.

Among the big outdoor stores (Dick's, Bass P, SW, Cabela's), I've always felt Gander and Dick's tend to generally have higher prices.
However, I still shop at all of them, as I've come across unexpected bargains at each.

I hope things will improve with time.

I'd wager that if you go back to Cabela's in mid-Feb (viz. say on a Tuesday at 11:30 AM), the store won't be nearly as crowded as it is today (3-4 days before Christmas).
I'd also avoid going there on 26DEC13, if you are averse to crowds.

In summary, I'm glad Cabela's opened up a store or two in Colorado (and one of them so close to where I live).
It is nice having more shopping choices.
It also validates that Colorado continues to be viewed as, in general, a very gun friendly state; otherwise, when doing market research, Cabela's would have realized there was not enough business in Colorado to permit them to invest in brick and mortar retail outlets.