Cabela's

[Blazerman]

Ness, I agree Cabela’s (CAB) knows how to make money but I think the stock run up has more to do with gun sales than anything else. Smith & Wesson, (SWHC) and Ruger, (RGR) stocks have been soaring this year and that has carried over to Cabela’s and probably BPS too, (although there not public).

[jeb]

I was confused about Roger's Sporting Goods when I first heard about a couple of years ago. I thought it was in or near Rogers, AR. Turns out it's in MO and owned by a guy named Roger. I've heard nothing but good about them, though.

[Feathers and Fins]

Jeb, I cannot tell you how much I have spent there but never had a bad experiance with them and have had a couple orders that had something missing. I called and it was sent to me no charge. Been to the shop a few times it sure aint beautyfied but if you like hunting its the go to store. Fishing selection aint to bad but they really make a sportman feel like you are in a candy store.

[Trevor K]

I live just a couple miles from Roger's Sporting Goods. That place is awesome. Free shipping on stuff all the time, including cases of shotgun shells.

[hoglaw]

Cabelas is going to do very well in Rogers. I have always liked HLS, and try to get to Southtown as often as I can but it's in a pretty inconvenient location for me as it's not on my way to anything. One of the most telling things (for me anyway) is that often times these big mega stores will get some pretty tremendous incentives to locate their store in a particular city. Things like sales tax rebates from the municipality, indefinite lease agreements to avoid property taxes, and other incentives can really sweeten the deal for the big box store or other mass employers. For instance, Wal-mart has a couple of mega distribution centers that can be seen from space. We're talking square footage that is measured by acres. On one of the major hubs in Texas that handles imports from Mexico, Wally world paid for the real estate, paid for construciton of this monstrous facility, then donated the entire property to the county (or city...not sure which). In turn, they got a very long lease on the land from the county for a nominal annual lease fee that keeps them from having to pay property taxes on hundreds of acres. The Branson Landing was developed in a similar fashion (the city of Branson owns the whole area I think and leased it to the entity that operates it on a 99 year lease), and folks that want to build a new store there don't buy land, they "buy" a lease for the duration of the 99 years. There are still over 90 years left on the master lease, so the banks treat financing deals the same as they would for purchasing the real estate. Not sure what happens in the year 2100.

There are a few watchdog type groups who will investigate these kinds of activities whenever these stores go in. As I understand it, the City of Rogers has received numerous freedom of information requests aimed at figuring out what kind of incentives Cabelas received to locate their store where it is. The answer is absolutely none. Rogers didn't have to do a thing to get that store. They wanted to be there and didn't ask for much. They required a number of conditional use permits for things like storing boats long term in a zone where auto dealerships and long term storage facilities aren't allowed, and the city was extremely accomodating in this regard, but Cabelas wanted to be in Rogers for a reason. When many cities and counties would bend over backwards to get a store like this built, Rogers didn't have to do much at all. They wanted to be here, and they wanted to be here for a reason.

The only time I've been to the new Cabelas was a few days before it opened and I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked since I was still on crutches, but overall I think it's a really cool deal. I'll still frequent the other stores like HLS - mainly for convenience and what feels like local knowledge. But I'm thrilled Cabelas built here and I can't wait to make another trip when I can walk around it a little better.

[Quillback]

That's good to hear that everything is on the up and up as far as no government sweetners to get Cabelas to open a store here.

I remember a few years ago when AR was competing with several southern states to get an auto manufacturing facility (I think it was Toyota), the giveaways wee ridiculous, whatever state got that plant, may have been South Carolina, ended up paying the manufacturer to locate there.