Cabelas in NH

[TookyRiverCalls]

Just heard on the news last night that the town of Hookset, NH had the votes for a Cabelas in the year 2009.  I'll still be using my good friends shop for my hunting & fishing needs but it's nice to have the option and the large variety of something like Cabelas in our back yard.  I know it will hurt a few sporting good shops in the area but feel people will still need good quality service from mom & pop shops.

Has anyone had a big store like Cabelas or Bass Pro pop up in their area and put smaller shops out of business?

[Bob D]

We just had a Bass Pro open here so I don't know what the effect will be on the few shops that are still around. i doubt it will affect them cause they have their loyal followers and they do provide a service unmatched by the larger stores.JMO

[browning204]

I think that cabelas could hurt places like Wildlife Taxidermy and stuff like that but not the smaller true Mom's and Pops stores.

Maybe it could hurt the trading post, I think that place is over rated any way!!!

[Silencer]

We dont have the population here for a big time sporting goods store.  Half hour drive north or 1 hr dirve south I can get to gander mountain.  I use the local gunsmith for most of everything, he gives me discounts/wholesale on any hunting item.
Never been to Cabelas or BassPro. 

[TookyRiverCalls]

There's at least two sporting good shops (hunting, guns, archery & fishing) within a 12 mile radius of where it's going in.  There's also two gun only shops (with gun-smiting) within the same radius as the sporting good shops.  I could really careless if those gun shops shut their doors.  I feel they're both over rated! over priced crooks!  In fact, I'd probably go in the one gun shop just to at him and stir the pot a little.  He wouldn't tap my 10ga single shot for a sight because he thought my gun wasn't worth his time

I feel that the other shops mentioned will defiantly be feeling a hurting from Cabelas building a store in their backyards.  And even though the two sporting good shops both sell saltwater bait, I doubt that will keep them a float very long.

I do feel a little sorry for them but then again, Cabelas is putting there for a reason.  Maybe they get a ton of orders from that area and feel a store would draw in more sales

[THO Game Calls]

If Cabela's put Wildlife out of business, it would be a GOOD thing.  Those guys are the biggest crooks in the area.  They are the ONLY bait and tackle shop in the area and they know it, so they treat everyone like crap.  I think they will hang on though because they are right on the circle at the lake.  They get a lot of business from that alone.   As for their hunting section, it stinks anyway.   All they carry is what they can buy at flea markets anyway. 

There is no gunsmiting in the area Tom.  The shop you went to, he only works on the guns he sells now.  Even if you are a customer and bring in a gun you did not buy there, he will not work on it.   Personal experiance.

Riley's is OK, but they are pretty expensive.  A lot of junk too.  They are stil mad at me for that muzzleloader I bought fom them.   Paid 65 bucks cause they could not get the nipple out of it.  Took it home, filled the barrel with Marvel Mystery Oil and it came out in two days.   Refinished the stock, browned he barrel, cleaned up the brass, and sold it back to them for 200.  They didn't know for about a month till my buddy was with me and saw it there and asked me if it was the same gun I bought there and fixed up   :roflmao:

They will hurt Steves, but he has been on the verge of going out of business for years now.  He hangs on by Guiding for moose bear and deer.  Good man, I would hate to see him go under, but Cabelas will kill him. 

It wont hurt Kittery as they are in Maine, and they are in the heart of the bargin basement mall and tourist area. 

The worst impact Cabelas will have on the area is to completely kill the deer hunting in the state.  It's bad enough that Mass does not have Sunday hunting and we do, and we advertise that fact to the Mass hunters, but with a Cabelas here, oh man.   The woods will be alive with out of state hunters in Deer and Turkey season.  I think the Fish and Game is hoping for that to happen.  They need the income.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

Al

[browning204]

there is a gun smith in Bow. I have his # in the basement. I might hafta send my .17 HMR to him. Wildlife is kinda crookish, but they treat me well over there.

There is a small gunshop just south of me and AL, I have bought many guns from them but, He and his wife are always argueing and dropping F-bombs on each other while customers are in. More than once he has showed me and sold me pistols with a Beer in his hand. That shit kinda scares me!!!

[THO Game Calls]

The gunsmith in Bow is the guy who used to be the gunsmith at Rileys.  He is the one who will not work on any gun not bought in his shop.

I agree that Wildlife has gotten a bit better since Pru got killed, but there are a lot of people around who wont forget how things once were, and hope that Cabela's does them in.  You know Scott?  He married Pru's daugheter.  He used to work behind the counter and in the gun room.  When he was the area director for the NWTF, he stood up and spoke at a Fish and Game Hearing one night, and the head of the state wildlife division called him an idiot  :roflmao: and told him to go sit back down.  Scott sold my buddy a 410 shot gun for his kid to use on the youth turkey hunt.   When they brought it back because the smallest shotgun you can use to hunt turkey in NH is a 20 gauge, they would not take it back.   You would think that the director of the NWTF for NH would know stuff like this.  They had not even shot the gun, and Wildlife would not take it back.  They offered them like 30 bucks or so for it as a used gun.   Anyway, that's the story I was told.  True or not, I dont know, but they sold me a bow that was marked 60 to 70 pounds and I told them to set it at 65 pounds.  I needed it for the moose hunt which has a 60 pound draw weight limit.  Well, the bow was actualy a 50 to 60 pound bow.   We put it on the scale at Steves.   They would not take it back either, so I believe my buddy's story.

You must be talking about Dave's Guns.  There are stories about him all over. 

They put in a Dick's Sporting Goods in Concord, but I have not been in there.  I was in the one in Newington and they did have a lot of firearms but not much else for hunting.   I wonder what a Cabelas would do to them?   

Well, time will tell.   I would still like to have a Cabela's right down the road.   It would be a good central spot to meet in the mornings for a hunt.  Lots better than the park and ride off exit 10 where most of the people there at 3 in the morning are better armed than you are LOL.

Al