Bass Pro buys Sportsman's Warehouse

[MrPrena]

Did Carly have any successes?

One.
She kept her job very long at hwp/hpq relative to her performance.

[funkymonkey1111]

Prior to this buy out, if BPS caved to the pressure of the anti-gunners and decided to quit carrying handguns or evil black rifles or anything associated (like so many of the larger branded stores have done), we'd still have the option to find them at SW. .

Prior to this acquisition, if SW caved to the pressure of the anti-gunners and decided to quit carrying handguns or evil black rifles or anything associated (like so many of the larger branded stores have done), we'd still have the option to find them at Cabela's or BPS.

[Martinjmpr]

Prior to this acquisition, if SW caved to the pressure of the anti-gunners and decided to quit carrying handguns or evil black rifles or anything associated (like so many of the larger branded stores have done), we'd still have the option to find them at Cabela's or BPS.

If there's demand for handguns or EBRs and BPS stops carrying them, someone else will step up and fill that market niche.

I mean, people bought handguns and EBRs BEFORE there was a BPS or a SW, right?

If anything, BPS dropping EBRs or handguns would be a boost to the LGS's.

But honestly, that's unlikely to happen because if BPS, Cabelas and SW decide to cut handguns and EBRs, then they basically become Sports Authority or Dicks.

[CS1983]

If there's demand for handguns or EBRs and BPS stops carrying them, someone else will step up and fill that market niche.

I mean, people bought handguns and EBRs BEFORE there was a BPS or a SW, right?

If anything, BPS dropping EBRs or handguns would be a boost to the LGS's.

But honestly, that's unlikely to happen because if BPS, Cabelas and SW decide to cut handguns and EBRs, then they basically become Sports Authority or Dicks.

Well if they pull guns, they'd definitely be Dicks.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Decades later after many diversification and playing around agilent, yes it has.

However, carly's one of biggest failure is still seen as Compaq merger.

Did Carly have any successes?

I had owned a small amount of HPQ stock around that time period. While I appreciated some of Carly's statements in later years when she ran for political office, she was an unmitigated disaster as CEO of HPQ back in the day and I had to laugh whenever she pointed to her background as a businesswoman. Her time as CEO reminded me of the statement by the man elected by the "mutineers" of the 20th Maine when he addressed COL Joshua Chamberlain and described the Union Army's generals as "unable to pour pee from a boot with the instructions written on the heel."

Merging HP with CPQ was utter stupidity.

[BladesNBarrels]

Talked to a local FFL.
Cabelas/Bass Pro is the biggest gorilla in the civilian firearms market.
With their buying power they can get pricing so low that they can retail below the small dealer's wholesale price through the major distributors.
He said he can get most firearms cheaper from Bass Pro than through his distributor.
I don't think a business oriented major store chain would walk away from that kind of market power.

[RiderGeek]

Is that because they are closer to you or because they offer something the others don't?

Here's two places where Sportsman's historically excelled: ammunition selection / depth or selection of reloading components / supplies. Also, generally being much more affordable than the alternatives.

Before things went stupid:
Ammunition:
*BPS had lots of duck and goose loads, very expensive and limited choice of target loads (Win AA, Rem Nitro), a bit of the common soft tip rifle ammo, rarely any match grade anything. Handgun ammo was extremely limited, with very little choice, exceptionally high prices.
*Cabela's had lots of duck and goose loads also, more choice and less expensive target loads. They had a much better selection of rifle ammo than BPS, and a much better selection of handgun ammo. Prices generally better also
*Sportsman's pretty much had any duck / goose load you'd ever want with seasonal availability, had just about every caliber of modern rifle ammo you could imagine, usually with multiple manufacturers represented, and multiple loads from each manufacturer. Handgun ammo available in bulk quantities with reasonable prices.

BPS (at least the Stapleton one) only ever sold primers by the sleeve, and at the low, low price of $4.99 per 100 - (e.g. $50 per thousand + tax)
Cabela's at least nominally carried the thousand piece bricks, but almost never had them. Also, the price was pretty much in line with BPS--just barely more palatable than buying a single brick online and sucking up the hazmat fee.
Sportsman's was $3.50 per sleeve, and if you bought the whole thousand pack you'd also get 5% off. They generally had a few cases worth of primers at a given time.
Sportsman's was much closer to the price you'd get if you bought in big bulk quantities online and paid the hazmat fees. They also had a wider selection of primers.

Powder:
BPS and Cabelas only ever carried one pound containers, and had poopy selection, even poopier prices.
Sportsman's offered 1 / 4 / 8 pound containers of just about anything you'd want, and generally had it available. Prices couldn't be beat unless you wanted to order 30-48 lbs from an online store and split the hazmat fee with your friends.

Guns:
The last time I went to BPS it was medium to medium-high end fudd gun central. Few handguns aside from Taurus revolvers--but certianly nothing you couldn't get from somewhere else at a drastically better price. Noticed the no MSR / precision target rifles / no sporting shotgun or home defense shotgun policy. It it wasn't strictly designed for shooting doves/pheasants/waterfowl/turkeys or deer, it was clear they wanted nothing to do with it. But hey, suppose you wanted a wildly overpriced Remington 700 CDL chambered for a cartridge the salesman never heard of? Oh man did they have you covered. The one redeeming thing about the place they shuttered -- the high end gun room. Kinda fun to browse and drool on the glass protecting me from stuff I had no business buying. Also, poor selection of rifle scopes.

Cabelas: at least they had MSRs and handguns people would want to buy.

Sportsmans: had good selection of handguns / MSRs / a few decent target rifles / decent sporting shotguns selection. Pretty much anything a guy could want for whatever it was he wanted to do.

Just wanted to add: Murdochs, the hardware / farm / ranch supply / general store has recently put aside a small corner of the store dedicated to guns and gun accessories in many of their stores. They're killing it in terms of the selection of stuff they pack into a tiny area. It's kind of amusing.

[sroz]

Talked to a local FFL.
Cabelas/Bass Pro is the biggest gorilla in the civilian firearms market.
With their buying power they can get pricing so low that they can retail below the small dealer's wholesale price through the major distributors.
He said he can get most firearms cheaper from Bass Pro than through his distributor.
I don't think a business oriented major store chain would walk away from that kind of market power.

Sounds about right. I recall reading somewhere a couple years ago that they were the largest purchaser of firearms after the USG. As a matter of fact I think Cabela's held that distinction prior to BPS buying them.

[BladesNBarrels]

Sounds about right. I recall reading somewhere a couple years ago that they were the largest purchaser of firearms after the USG. As a matter of fact I think Cabela's held that distinction prior to BPS buying them.

I had heard that before.
I was attending SHOT Show around 2017 and was having breakfast at one of the casino garden cafes.
I was sitting next to a table of about 6 guys talking about a firearms purchase.
One or two of them were from Cabelas and the others were from a major firearm manufacturer.
The buyers were settling some discussions they had obviously had prior to breakfast and agreed to buy over 2,000 of one model at the table, and said they would talk more about the other deals.
The FFL dealer I was with just shook his head and said he couldn't compete with that, since he sold about 500 guns total during a year and the manufacturer required him to go through a distributor.
He said Cabelas would probably have those out to their stores in a week.

[Gman]

Just wanted to add: Murdochs, the hardware / farm / ranch supply / general store has recently put aside a small corner of the store dedicated to guns and gun accessories in many of their stores. They're killing it in terms of the selection of stuff they pack into a tiny area. It's kind of amusing.

I noticed that at Murdochs. Pretty impressive the variety of firearms they could fit into that space.