Bass Pro is acquiring Cabelas

[Doe Master]

5.5 Billion dollars is a fair amount of change .
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/03/bass-pro ... -cash.html

[Bullzeye]

I would never have seen that coming, wow.

[Eck]

My Brother-in-Law is prophesizing a "Walmartization" of hunting and shooting-related sporting goods. I sure hope he's wrong.

[Patcon]

I was trying to figure out if I thought this was a good idea or not. If I had to guess, I liked having options. One big company means I have one fewer option...

[galamb]

^^^^ Exactly - now there isn't even the competition between them (even if it wasn't great to start with).

[ihunt]

Only thing I see is people will losing their jobs, prices going up and less service. Companies that buy out other companies want to get their investment back a.s.a.p. In the end everyone pays!

[janesy]

Working for a Canadian corporation for almost two decades have made me strongly dislike the "Big Box" stores. Or more so their effect on the communities and small business surrounding them. LeBaron was my go to. But I have found that the Barrie Cabela's was a great place to take my toddler to kill time and give mommy a break. And I will say that the staff there are always friendly and always say hi or chat with Nathan, my little guy. Even though we rarely buy anything.
I would hate to see a good store go to the tank because it's bought out. Hopefully they can maintain the level that they have, at least with the atmosphere and staff. Product? Who knows every store has their ups and downs.

[acreek]

The real threat to small business in the archery industry is not from retailers like Bass Pro and Cabela's that honor MAP pricing, it's from the online retailers that don't honor MAP. Amazon, eBay and other internet retailers frequently sell products below MAP pricing. MAP is the minimum price a manufacturer allows an authorized dealer to place on their products. It usually guarantees a margin between about 20% and 30%, which is still low compared to other industries that deliver 50% margins.

When you figure in the taxes and expenses of running a business, you can't survive selling at 20%. Eliminate MAP and margins drop to 5% to 10% or even less. A small business cannot survive selling products at such a low margin so they don't invest in those products. And in turn, consumers don't get to see the products in person. They don't get to put their hands on them and try before they buy. They either rely on pictures and internet reviews or they don't buy. And in case you are wondering, Excalibur crossbows are being advertised online well below MAP pricing.

So in the real world, a brick and mortar authorized dealer buys the bow at $750, prices the bow at $899 according to MAP guidelines, a guy then comes in to shoot it, likes it, but then turns around and buys it online for $799. After awhile, the authorized dealer clears that product out because people are shooting his bows but not buying them. So he takes his money and invests in another line from a manufacturer that supports his existence by prohibiting internet sales or at the minimum, actually enforces MAP guidelines by prohibiting future product sales to MAP violators.

I think some manufacturers are being short sighted. Because not only are their products being replaced on the racks with other products, but the reputation of their products is suffering from unskilled and uninformed consumers who buy the products online, unknowingly misuse them, and then write online or talk to their hunting buddies about their negative experiences which then misinforms others of the product's supposed lack of reliability and nonperformance.

Look at Barnett crossbows. They don't have the best reputation out there and their cheaper bows are notorious Amazon and eBay sellers. I think these cheaper bows have caused a lot of the bad rep. Now we are seeing more and more Excalibur bows up for sale, sold as new, on Amazon and eBay. I have no doubt people are buying those bows, dry firing them left and right, shooting partial dry fires without knowing it, shooting them with extremely low brace heights, on and on, and then openly complaining about busted limbs, scopes that lose their zero, etc.

Oh well. It's probably too late to do anything about Amazon and eBay now. But whenever I have a chance to buy "local" I do it and try to support the little guy.

[xcaliber]

All of my guns were purchased at Blythes, our local shop, also my Mathews bows. When they quit servicing them, then selling, it was tough. I like both BP & Cabelas, but prefer Cabelas, we'll see what happens.

[amythntr]

.....I know I am not going to make many friends here...but this is the sign of the times....catalog retailers are dying...they cannot compete with eBay, Amazon and other internet retailers....

.....My Cabela's catalog was rendered to reading material for my "office" never were the prices in there reasonable or bargains....how could they be they are brick and mortar establishments....

.....I have had "zero" issues ordering on-line...most have excellent return policies (never used) and have no shipping charges...

.....I am sure the price tag being paid for Cabelas by BPS includes the Cabela's real estate....

....we are the ones responsible for this structural shift and that's OK....we will always try to get the best value for our $ and if it means buying on line so be it.

.....The question I have is how much longer will BPS survive?....They need to get smaller not bigger (IMHO) and develop (if they don't have it already) a dominant internet presence where their prices are comparable with others....

.....lets face it, times have changed...we need unfortunately to get used to it!

JMTCFWIW!

Anthony

[Kegbelly]

Personally I hate to see this happen. We have a Cabelas locally and I love the store, I could spend at least $10K every time I walk in there The few BPS stores I've been in were nice but much of there stuff seemed way overpriced. Not that Cabelas is cheap, but they don't seem as high as BPS in general. I think the competition between them was a good thing.
Online retailers have killed many brick & mortar stores, but sometimes you need to look at an item in person, handle it, try it on, etc. You can only tell so much from a stock photo online. And being the impatient type, I'll often drive to the store and pay a few $$ more to have what I want or need today vs waiting for an online order to show up that might or might not be exactly what I wanted.

[sproulman]

When we fished the bass tournaments bass pro would give you a free rod for everyone i bought.but i buy top shelf high graphite rods..free shipping.
that is thing of past now all you get is terrible high prices.

we do not even go near store or buy anything there...

[cva34]

all I can say its backwards ..everything I bought says Cabelas is great... Bass Pro says red head and its JUNK my 2c

[Carnivorous]

Zero effect to me. I don't normally buy from either of them so no big deal...

[L. E. Carroll]

I equate the internet sales and prices that can be found there, vrs even the big box stores such as Cabelas, in a similar and perhaps
direct comparison to what happened to my small ( under 6000 ) population " Hometown " after a Wallmart Superstore moved into town..

Gone are the 3 competeing grocery stores, the 4 pharmacies complete with soda and snack bars, that were pretty evenly spread down main street, as well as the privately owned Coast to Coast and two other small "mom and pop" hardware stores we had back all those years ago......

All that people see now, as they travel down main street to Wallmart, ( which is actually up on the hill on the out-skirts of town ) with it's it's "Lower Prices" and in many cases, lesser quality of goods and services, are used book stores, yuppie coffee shops, the occasional "New" book store with it's reading area, Y-fi, and built in starbucks to provide the coffee as you enjoy your book, lap top, or latest new magazine.

BTW, I have yet to see a good hunting, shooting or crossbow magazine on the magazine racks in any of the new places now that they display and practice the new "Political Correctness" as far as anti-hunting and private gun ownership are concerned. For it seems they, as well as our Government, want to provide only what in their eyes, is "Best for The Public". ( Regardless of our needs and wishes.)

Oh yes, then there are the thrift stores, and the Pawn Shop ( neither of wich we had before the big shift ). These last two types of business's may very well be a result of the of the many "living wage" jobs that main street used to provide but are no longer there ?

Growing up there in the 60's, I think I knew 50-75 % of the store owners and their empolyes names in those small stores and shops on main street....

On the 2-3 yearly trips home to visit or deer hunt now, I very rarely see nor recognize anyone by name ( and yes, it's possible it's related to my age ) as I too am forced to go "Up On the Hill" to also shop Wallmart and their now "not so lower prices" as the competition seems to have shriveled up and died a very painfull ( for most old timers at least ) death ....

Just another sign of the times my friends.

Gene