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What's Sportsmans Warehouse like?

coyotewillie

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 5, 2005
267
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NE
Morning paper today says a Sportsman's Warehouse is coming to town (Grand Island, Ne). Closest one is 250 miles away so I have no idea what they are. Is it any good at all?? Unfortunately, the same article says Bass Pro is supposed to "aquire" SW, so considering what happened to Cabela's after BP took them over I'm not expecting much no matter how good they are.
 
They’re good. Prices are usually pretty fair and they price match. If BP takes over, might go down hill though
 
Big sportsman's fan here. Reasonable prices, normally great selection, etc. Not excited about the Bass Pro takeover after they took cabela's downhill. Bass pro reloading department is a joke these days, I'll miss Sportsmans if BP changes anything there.
 
Great store, about to go down the shitter same as anything BP touches.

Scheels will be the last great sporting good store.

I don't understand how they let this shit happen with Anti-trust Laws. The 3 biggest sporting goods stores should not be under the same company... wtf.
 
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Ours finally caved after months of bare reloading shelves. They just filled them in with steel targets and some muzzle loader supplies. It was like the last shred of hope was crushed.
 
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There pretty good store for the most part. Usually have better reloading stock then my local Cabelas and Scheels.

1) Scheels- More Modern feel and usually has the latest and greatest gear on the market, has a huge ferris wheel and Huge salt aquarium in it. family oriented Great staff
2) Sportmans Warehouse- Modern but more Grocery store feeling, more like get what you want and go. great staff, Price Matching
3) Cabelas- Feels more like my grandpa's shop, lots of animals mounts, never have reloading supplies or ammo


There all retail stores, I remember years ago before Scheels was big time, you would buy a rifle and they would throw in a couple boxes of ammo for free. Or buy a box of shells/rifle and they would knock a couple dollars off the price. The Good Old days
 
Great store, about to go down the shitter same as anything BP touches.

Scheels will be the last great sporting good store.

I don't understand how they let this shit happen with Anti-trust Laws. The 3 biggest sporting goods stores should not be under the same company... wtf.
Anti-trust law is more political at this point than anything. I really think they just don't give a shit about sporting good stores, and probably think there is enough mom and pop competition in most locales. Whether there is or not, I don't know. We have Sportsman's and Cabelas, but Bob Ward's, a local chain, probably does as much or more business than either. And we are getting a Scheels this year, which will be awesome.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they counted things like basketball gear stores and running shoe stores as adequate competition for hunting and fishing stores. People in DC are unbelievably retarded about things like reloading gear, probably to the point of not even knowing or caring what it is. And all gun stores are bad so making sure the consumer has more access in that case isn't a big political priority.
 
Is BP in the process of buying Sportsmans Warehouse? Hope not, BP blows.

I talked the firearms manager in the Mass store to ask about me offering handgun classes through the store. He said that none of his clients buy guns for defense, they are all for hunting. I asked how many of his clients are using his J-Frame revolvers for hunting. F'ing idiot. I never went back in a BP ever again.
 
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I BP in the process of buying Sportsmans Warehouse? Hope not, BP blows.

I talked the firearms manager in the Mass store to ask about me offering handgun classes through the store. He said that none of his clients buy guns for defense, they are all for hunting. I asked how many of his clients are using his J-Frame revolvers for hunting. F'ing idiot. I never went back in a BP ever again.
I believe they already acquired SW, I’m hoping they don’t ruin it because I also dislike BPS.
 
Sportsmans Warehouse in my neighborhood was a really good store, and then they hired a retarded manager that at his prior job literally ran that restaurant to closure. Now he's trying to do the same to SW. Corporate HQ in Utah is just as useless.

The reloading section at my store doesn't exist anymore either, but if you want round ball for muzzleloaders and powder they have plenty of that.

I couldn't imagine them getting any worse but with the sale to BP it is inevitable. The local mom and pop stores are so overpriced it's really hard to spend money there.
 
Sportsmans is pretty good but like most big box stores the guys at the gun counter typically are retarded. Bass pro sucks ass and will ruin sportsmans. Let's hope the Feds don't let the sale go through.
 
Morning paper today says a Sportsman's Warehouse is coming to town (Grand Island, Ne). Closest one is 250 miles away so I have no idea what they are. Is it any good at all?? Unfortunately, the same article says Bass Pro is supposed to "aquire" SW, so considering what happened to Cabela's after BP took them over I'm not expecting much no matter how good they are.
BP completely and utterly fucked up Cabelas.

asinine of them to destroy a great brand like that
 
Our Cabelas was shit here, so I didn't really notice. They do have comfy bathrooms for an emergency shit.
 
My view is that’s it’s not the store BP fucked up but the Cabelas clothing line that was wonderful and is now badly and cheaply cut Chinese shit and I won’t buy it.

they even fucked up the iconic Cabelas hats and they are now cheap POS.
 
BPS purchased Sportsman’s...deal is done. Awaiting fallout...

Cabelas ran themselves aground, hiring Tommy Millner in 2009 as CEO (former Remington CEO) was perhaps the death blow.
 
We had a sportsman’s that went belly up a decade ago. Gander mountain moved into the same location and they went belly up too. All we had here in dfw for a long time was BPS and cabelas. We just got a scheels and that places is the bomb. Definitely my new favorite
 
You can knock Cabelas all you want. Admittedly I was never a big fan of Cabelas either. Until BP took them over. Before that I stopped there probably once a month to look around. Never did buy much there at those prices. But always had plenty to look over. But this was at the Kearney Ne. store which was one of the earliest stores. BIG bargain area, always lots of deals on returns, so it was always worth stopping. They eventually phased that out, but I still stopped. Then BP came in. Since then I think I've only stopped in 3-4 times. Fishing gear, camping equipmen and clothes have taken over. CHEAP clothes. Gun/ammo area seems about half of what it was. After BP I realized that Cabelas wasn't as bad as I thought. I feel now I misjudged Cabelas. Perfect store? No. But compared to post BP, they were pretty damn good. It seemed that I read a lot of positives about Sportsmans Warehouse so I got kinda pumped when I read the headline this morning. Then I got to the part about BP and went "oh shit".
 
My view is that’s it’s not the store BP fucked up but the Cabelas clothing line that was wonderful and is now badly and cheaply cut Chinese shit and I won’t buy it.

they even fucked up the iconic Cabelas hats and they are now cheap POS.
This is Gospel, right here!

Many of the good items I used to order are discontinued. The stuff that replaced them doesn’t compare.
 
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There was a Sportsmans near me in the SF Bay Area. It was awesome for us here in the People Republic of Kalifornia, where the French Laundry guy leads us. It had a fantastic ammo and reloading section. Unfortunately, they closed it down. I really liked the place. The people were nice. The store was clean, well run, and had great variety of inventory. I never go to local Krap Pro shops.
 
Cabelas was shit way before BP took over, BP was just the nail in the coffin. 90s early 00s cabelas was the shit.
 
BP completely and utterly fucked up Cabelas.

asinine of them to destroy a great brand like that

Yeah the Cabela's stores that I used to frequent really took a shit when BP took over. Both fishing and shooting. Selection and variety of fishing equipment went down. Lot more BPS branded stuff. Ammunition selection also got more expensive and more limited.

Luckily I have one good fishing shop local to me that I support. Otherwise I get my stuff online now.