just recieved a e-mail from bcwf quoting a news report that cabelas is buying sir winnipeg
will be their canadian headquarters

Hate to see a Canadian company bought out, but this'll probably be a good thing for sportsmen, especially in Western Canada. Bet it makes Wholesale Sports nervous.

Bass Pro's influence hasn't really made it west yet, and WSS/Russel's and the bigger outlets in Vancouver are still really slow in getting new products into Canada. A little competition here should be a good thing.

Cheers,
Canuck

I don't think wholesale is nervous i think their next

Could be hear-say, but I was in Wholesale (Edmonton) the other day, and one of the older fellas whos been there since the Custom Gun days, told me that Cabelas has indeed bought land in Edmonton!!

YAYYYYYYYYY

Kind of make's sense, Cabela's is opening there new store in montreal in 2008, can hardly wait.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Wayne:
Kind of make's sense, Cabela's is opening there new store in montreal in 2008, can hardly wait.

Montreal!! AW HELL! That ain't Canada it's a foreign cesspool of degenerates and turnips! e.g. shootaway!

The buying of S.I.R., may be a loss of a Canadian mail order "icon". We might get things brought up from the U.S. a bit faster. And may be a more stable supply of hard to get reloading equipment.

I sure hope they keep the prices comparable to the U.S with exchange factored in.

Would be nice to be able to buy some of the guns Cabelas advertises.
Grizz

WSS needs to be nervous, especially the Calgary store, lots of room for improvement in the customer service aspaect of the industry and some real competion is always a good thing for the customer

I have no problem with new competition for the other chains. This will be another kick in the teeth for the small stores............but that is the way of things these days it seems.

My biggest concern is that it will not be a true US style Cabela's and instead will be a watered down version for the Canadian market, with less of their 'stuff' available to us.

quote:

lots of room for improvement in the customer service

That's for sure. I won't even shop in-store anymore, unless its to check out something in person. Once I know what I want, I get 10x better service from the mail-order guys/gals. Not a great business model if you want to maximize sales.

Cheers,
Canuck

You guys are going to love those Cabelas mega stores and their customer service is second to none. Within 5 years there will be 8-10 stores in Canada. I will say from experience that the small shops will NOT go away...unless they have terrible service to begin with. The Cabelas stores seem to actually "engage" more people in the general area to participate in all outdoor activities, thereby generating more interest in the small shops too. That on top of the fact that more people coming into Cabelas from the surrounding 200 miles may also shop some of the local smaller shops as well. I will also add that those stores really make the whole general area more prosperous...but there is a small percentage of the people that don't want to see that happen.

Bass Pro shop is building somewhere around Balzac is the rumor floating around the Alberta Outdoorsmen forum site.

I buy most of my rifles (all new ones) and reloading supplies from P & D Enterprises anyways (Best customer service-I'll call in my order, and its shipped right away to me in northern Alberta. If its not in stock, they order it and then ship to me). Only dire needs will I buy @ Wholesale - if I need some camo, but I get most of my camo clothing off EBAY or Barton's in GP.

Cabelas would be good. More competition to WSS. I would say buy the looks of the new WSS stores in Edmonton and Calgary ( have not seen it) but they look very similar to Cabelas.

quote:

Originally posted by .366torque:

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Wayne:
Kind of make's sense, Cabela's is opening there new store in montreal in 2008, can hardly wait.

Montreal!! AW HELL! That ain't Canada it's a foreign cesspool of degenerates and turnips! e.g. shootaway!

The buying of S.I.R., may be a loss of a Canadian mail order "icon". We might get things brought up from the U.S. a bit faster. And may be a more stable supply of hard to get reloading equipment.

LOL,? LOL What do Quebecers have you lack and want? Now own up...LOL

I find it kind of odd that a lotuslander would fret foreigners, cesspools, hog farms and down right degenerates!!!!!

Since way back when Crysler's Iaccoca adopted just in time inventory, Canada's suppliers have been out of stock on some items in most orders, whether sporting goods or taxidermy supplies or most anything.

It has been my experience that in the past twenty yrs very knowledgeable people have left the sporting goods and taxidermy supply business here in Canada for the more renumerative occupations due to the boom and spinoff re: the oil patch!

I'm happy..

Maybe they will have things in stock, not back order. SIR is the KINGof backorder!!

Once upon a time....long, long ago, there was a Sidney I Robinson store (Winnipeg) that was an INCREDIBLE mecca for all things "hunting". The rifles were memorable in heritage, mythic in quality, and endless in number. The salesmen were educated in matters of "the gun", quietly confident thereof, and humbly willing to communicate that knowledge to the eager client. Things changed. Maybe ALL things change. ....but please: NOT so rapidly, and NOT with so relentless a downward spiral. SIR became a hollow place. Glass display cases of silly knives, made-in-India reproductions of military swords, rifles that were catalog-carbon-copies of the stuff found in KMart (no offense meant to KMart), exhorbitantly-priced pedestrian hunting cutlery, pretentious displays of outdoorwear "presented" as merchandise to which only the uninformed would fail to pay homage. And the KICKER ....the KOOP dah GRASS .... were the salespeople. The old guys who knew which way to point a rifle were gone. What remained were jerks.....lots and lots of jerks.....unknowing jerks, arrogant jerks, coarse jerks. Now, "all the above" may appear as too harsh an appraisal. But frankly (gotta be frankly sometimes), I wish Cabelas the BEST of luck in Canada. They have been sorely needed.

I like that last post...haven't been in that store but they certainly don't have the market cornered. Sporting goods stores and gunshops can have some of the worst help in the world in them.

As to Cabelas, they are very popular without a store presence up my way...much more so than Bass Pro. In fact, Cabelas is a major sponsor of our Iditarod every year.

I shop at all three stores, SIR, Wholesale Sports and Cabelas (in ND). Of the three, WS here has the best people behind the gun desk, then Cabelas with SIR being a real hit and miss lately.

Apparently, Cabelas will be keeping all the SIR staff so we'll see how that goes. I just hope Cabelas does have similar prices but if they don't, I'll just continue to shop state side.

I find S.I.R. has the best and fastest service on any in-stock item, of any of the "Big-3": WSS, S.I.R. or RussellSports.

Hopefully Cabela's expands the inventory and reduces prices.

SIR has been steadily deteriorating the last few years. Even before they moved to their new store the expertise of the staff was seriously lacking. If someone went in looking for some advice they normally got directed to some junk that SIR had in stock and had difficulty selling. Since moving into the new store the stock has been pitiful. Old Sidney I must turn over in his grave to see what has happened to his business. Hopefully Cabelas will at least stock the dam shelves. It can only get better.

I only deal with S.I.R. on a mail order basis so I don't deal with the guys behind the counter and therefor have no issues with them.

It is a recurring theme, and easy to do, while sitting at a computer, to trash the guys behind the sales-counter as being dummies but I won't go there...

The sooner Cabellas opens in Edmonton the better. Wholesale has some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced. They need to have a competitor.

I try to shop at local/canadian stores but in this case I won't shed a tear for them AT ALL.

They smoked out the small shops (only one really left) so its about time they get taken down a notch. I'll still try to shop at the small guys whenever I can but the all-in-one thing is hard to pass up.

Bass Pro sucks, they have nothing but mickey mouse crap. Dropped by the Springfield store on the way to a Kansas hunt. Had planned on spending a few hours in there. Their hunting dept was a joke. My local Kmart had more stuff, but if you wanted a coffee mug or some useless nick-nack with Bass Pro emblazened all over it they had a couple trailer loads of that crap. The store in Concord, NC is better than the one in Springfield but does not hold a candle to Cabela's.

You are right about Bass Pro. I have been to the new here and it is a glorified KMart on its best day.